


Why Do Things Change

by latelyllama



Series: Wiccan+MCU [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Avengers, Protective Billy Kaplan, Protective May Parker (Spider-Man)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-06-26 10:05:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15661020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/latelyllama/pseuds/latelyllama
Summary: Peter was surprisingly excited for his school trip to Avengers compound. But then as happens so often it seems, it only took one moment, one action, for everything to change. Now everyone knows his secret. Can he stop the spiralling of his life and pick himself back up? Honestly, he had no idea.





	1. The Bridge

“Peter, concentrate please.”

“Oh yeah, sorry.”

How exactly Peter could become distracted in the middle of burning building is anyone’s guess? Billy paid it no mind, focussing as he was on taming the fires that threatened to surround them. Peter found the source of the shouting. Rubble from the floor above had landed in front of a doorway. There was frantic pounding and much shouting from the other side, telling him people were trapped.

“In there” he said to Billy.

Billy nodded, continuing his focus on the fire. He was waved his arms in rhythmic motions, misty blue magic flowing from him beating back the fire more effectively than the fire fighters and their hoses outside. Peter had nearly been convinced by Billy to stay out of it, that his Aunt and Tony would kill him if the fire didn’t, but then he’d heard the voices of the people trapped inside, and no words from Billy would have convinced him to stay put. It was a testament to their understanding of one another that Billy didn’t even try; he merely insisted that Peter not go in alone. Together they’d cleared most of the three story office building, leaving these people as last ones out. His suit was heat resistant, something for which Peter was incredibly grateful for, but all the same, the heat was becoming unbearable as he cleared the rubble, alert for any other shifts that might mean collapse. He opened the door at long last. Inside were two people, both of whom looked terrified. They were practically lying on the ground and it looked like they’d tried shoving whatever they could in front of the door to keep the smoke out. At least someone listened to those fire safety PSA’s, Peter thought. The two didn’t seem to know what to make of him, so he stepped into the room.

“We're here to get you out of here. Come on!” he said.

That got them moving. Keeping low, they made their way to the large glass windows at the front of the building. Only one still had a pane of glass in it, the others had shattered in the heat. They could see the streams of water from the fire fighters. Several of them pointed when they saw them in the window. Ominous cracks in the ceiling caught both teens attention.

“Time to go” Billy said.

Without asking or explaining, he wrapped them all in a dull blue glow and practically dragged them from the window. The two people screamed, thinking they would fall, but they quickly stopped when they realised they were floating down. They landed next to the fire engines and were bustled away by paramedics.

“Thank you” one of them said, allowing the paramedic to push her into a waiting ambulance for examination.

“Thanks Spidey” one of the fire fighters said, “and thank that friend of yours as well.”

“No problem” Peter replied, looking around.

Where had Billy gone? He saw him sitting on a rooftop across the street. He jumped and scrambled up the wall to join him.

“I don’t understand why you never hang around. You don’t even let them thank you” Peter said.

“I don’t understand how your mind can be on video games in a life or death situation” Billy said.

There wasn’t any heat in his words, but Peter felt himself blush anyway. It had been a stupid distraction really.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that Ned’s got this new video game and he said that it’s annoying when you get hit by a Molotov cocktail because it’s hard to see through the fire. I don’t know what made me think of it.”

“Ah yes, Ned” Billy said smirking.

“What? You don’t like Ned?” Peter asked.

“I like him perfectly fine. I’m just remembering how he could barely stop staring at me the last time I was with him.”

Peter remembered it too. He’d thought it was a good idea, introducing the two. After all, Ned was his best friend in life and Billy was his best friend in hero-ing. He’d told them about each other. Ned had been speechless at the thought of another hero Peter’s age. Billy, having not had any friends when he was younger, found it amusing the way Peter talked about Ned, like they’d been attached at the hip for years. Both had expressed an interest in meeting the other, so Peter had made it happen. The first time had ended up being a flying visit, as Billy had been called away by Dr Strange after only a few minutes. The second time Ned had kept tripping over his words whenever he spoke to him, and now that Peter thought about it, he hadn’t stopped staring. He’d have to say something to him.

“You should come around and play it with us. Maybe then you’d understand what’s so distracting about it” Peter suggested.

Billy thought for a moment.

“Maybe I will, if Ned doesn’t mind.”

Peter raised an eyebrow at him. Does he not realise who he’s talking about? Billy saw the raised eyebrow and they both laughed.

“You’re staying at Ned’s tonight, aren’t you?” Billy asked.

Peter nodded.

“Then word of advice, you might want to shower before you go.”

Peter was confused until he took a deep breath through his nose and caught the pungent odor of smoke. Not even the good smoke smell, like wood smoke, this was more acrid and harsh. A shower was definitely needed.

 

He popped home for something to eat and snuck a shower before May noticed the smell. Thankfully, her latest attempt at adventurous cooking masked whatever odours Peter may have brought with him. He picked up his bag and within no time, he was knocking on Ned’s door, waiting to be let in. There was a moment of awkward waiting on the doorstep before Ned opened the door.

“Peter!” he said, “come on in. I think I’ve got a strategy that you’ll never be able to beat, it’s so…”

He trailed off as he saw who else was approaching. Billy was walking up to them, having changed into a more comfortable pair of jeans and t-shirt. Peter had already asked Ned if it was ok, and he got the impression that Ned had practically dislocated his fingers in his haste to reply. Now the teen was awestruck on his own doorstep by the sight of what looked to anyone else like a normal teenager.

“Hey Peter, Ned” he said to them.

“Hi Billy” Peter said.

Ned made a noise which might have been ‘hi’, but Peter wasn’t sure. He gave Ned a nudge and he snapped out of it, stepping aside to allow them both to come in. They were led through to Ned’s large bedroom. Peter dumped his stuff at the foot of the bunkbed. Ned had quite the setup ready for what he guessed would be a gaming marathon. The TV, computer and laptop were all waiting on the menu of the same game, the one Peter had been distracted by earlier. Billy passed him and Peter made the point of sniffing loudly.

“You wish” Billy said, quiet enough that only Peter could hear.

Ned stood at the threshold of his room, still looking at Billy with awe. Peter cleared his throat and Ned snapped out of it again.

“Have you ever played this game before Billy” Ned asked, miraculously not messing up a single word.

Ned took a seat in front of the TV and Peter the computer, as was their custom when playing games together. No way were either of them going to let a split-screen ruin their experience. Billy parked himself, once Peter had directed him, in front of the laptop. He looked unsure, but it was a very masked unsureness, one Peter wouldn’t have spotted unless he knew what to look for.

“I have not” Billy said delicately.

“What games have you played?” Ned asked.

“None” Billy said bluntly.

Ned looked at him in disbelief.

“We should probably start with an easy level Ned, just to ease him in” Peter said.

“Hey, I’m learning the Mystic Arts. How hard can a video game be?” Billy said.

As it turns out, very hard.

“What does B do again?” Billy asked.

“Uses whatever item you’ve picked up” Ned said, not taking his eyes from the screen.

It was no good; Peter picked them both off from long range. Billy gave a huff of frustration, making both Peter and Ned chuckle. Billy, eventually, joined in. Peter was glad the awestruck tension was gone. Something about being rubbish at video games had made Billy a lot more human in Ned’s eyes, and Ned had then demanded that Billy come over and play through Ned’s large collection of games. Peter didn’t have the heart to tell Ned why Billy hadn’t played video games, and Billy didn’t seem inclined to tell either, so both of them left him to it. Mrs Leeds poked her head through the door just before 11pm.

“You guys having fun?” she asked.

They all nodded.

“Well, I’m afraid it’s time for Billy to go” she said kindly, “school tomorrow and you boys can’t be late. You don’t want to miss your trip. Billy, would you like a lift home?”

“No thank you. It’s not far from here” Billy said.

They saw Billy to the door and bade him goodnight. They hurried back to the room and Ned glanced out of the window.

“I don’t see him. Did he just teleport away?”

“That wouldn’t surprise me” Peter said.

“So cool” Ned said under his breath.

 

“Have fun you two” Mrs Leeds said as she dropped them off at the gates.

They waved after her before walking the short way down the street to the school parking lot. A yellow bus was waiting there, a small line of people were being let onto the bus after being ticked off by their Physics teacher, Mrs Avery.

“Peter and Ned” she said, checking her list, “there we are, please take a seat.”

They boarded the bus. It was mostly full, though there were two free seats in the middle, which they took. MJ was sat behind them, predictably buried in a book, though at least this one was subject relevant.

“I still can’t believe you want to go. You’ve got a room there” Ned said, keeping his voice uncharacteristically low.

“I know Ned, but I never get to see it like this” Peter said.

Their trip was to the Avengers compound upstate. Tony had floated the idea as a kind of outreach program, so the public wouldn’t think the Avengers were so secretive and mysterious, thoughts which were in his words ‘instrumental in leading to the Accords.’ The other Avengers had agreed to let tour groups see the main labs, as long as the living quarters were left private. Tony agreed and through a completely fair and unbiased system, Midtown High was selected as the trial school. Of course, Peter had a room at the compound, and at the tower which Tony had recently reacquired, but it was different seeing everything from this angle. He never usually goes near the main labs at the compound, even though they produced some really cool stuff, not all of which was for the Avengers. He mainly stuck to the living quarters or Tony’s private lab. He was interested in seeing what else went on at the compound, so why wouldn’t he take this chance, though he had had to make Tony promise, under penalty of being sent to some creepy alternate dimension, that he would stay out of the tour group’s way and not embarrass Peter. Tony had jokingly agreed, and agreed again more seriously when Peter insisted.

“Bums on seats people” Mrs Avery said as the last of the students arrived.

A few minutes later, the bus was away. It weaved through the streets trying its best to dodge the traffic. But this was New York and traffic will always find you. It didn’t stop the general buzz of excitement in the bus. Everyone was excited about seeing these labs.

“Yeah, we’ll finally get see Penis’s fantasy die right before our eyes” he heard Flash saying from the back of the bus.

“Flash, that’s enough” Mrs Avery called to him.

He liked Mrs Avery. He didn’t bother responding to Flash. He'd made it clear, many a time, that he thought Peter was lying about being knowing Tony, or being his intern, but that was all he wanted, the satisfaction of getting to him. It was quite amusing when he thought about it. Peter was smarter, stronger and faster than Flash, taller than him as well, yet he never did anything when Flash threw his weight around. At least Flash didn’t usually go beyond name calling and general taunting, no, it was the others that got physical.

“I hope we see Captain America. He’s so amazing” he heard one girl say from somewhere else in the bus.

“They’re letting him use that name still?” someone else asked.

“Kind of hard to stop him when he helped save the universe” someone else answered.

Peter amused himself listening to the debate, when a sudden chill ran down his spine. Danger! He glanced around nervously. Nothing seemed to be wrong.

“What’s up?” Ned asked, picking up on his shift in body language.

He looked across Ned and out of the window. The bus was stuck in traffic on a bridge. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he saw people running. They were running fast. Other people noticed and the bus went quiet, letting them hear the screams. He saw a car fly through the air. Thankfully no-one was in it. He peered down the centre of the bus and out the front windscreen. More cars were being tossed. He heard gunshots. Then he saw it. A large dull grey machine was twisting and thrashing on the bridge in front of them. Peter saw movement above; Falcon was flying around them. He was the one shooting. There was more movement and Peter saw a red, white and blue shield fly at and subsequently bounce off the machine. Captain America darted forward. The machine swung an arm at him. Wait, that was an arm? Peter looked more carefully. Yes, definitely an arm. The machine was shaped like a man. It reminded Peter of Iron Man, but this one looked more like a tank than most of Tony’s suits. On one arm was attached a rather beefy looking gun. It fired at Falcon, the shots sounding like explosions, but he dodged and weaved. Where the head should have been, it looked more like a metal dome, on which was attached a gleaming spike. It made the whole thing look like a rhino shaped man-tank. The man-tank charged at Captain America, who leapt aside just in time. The spike skewered the car in front of them and the man-tank snapped upright. The car was lifted and thrown high into the air. Captain America could now see the school bus, could see Peter and his classmates, more clearly. He saw him speaking into his comm unit, but the man-tank had unfortunately seen them as well. He fired again at Falcon, swatted away Captain America, didn’t even flinch when the shield bounced off it and charged. Instinct took over Peter. He grabbed from his bag his web shooters and slapped them on his wrist. He stood up from his seat into the aisle as everyone else in the bus screamed. The collision was hard and Peter was thrown to his feet. The glass of the windscreen had shattered, a cool breeze playing on his face.

“Peter!”

Who shouted his name he had no idea, but it brought him back to his feet. Through the windscreen, he saw Captain America holding on to the back of the man-tank, trying to avoid the swinging arms. Falcon landed with the whine of thrusters. He tried opening the door but it wouldn’t budge. The students were panicking. Falcon moved to the front of the bus so he could yell through the windscreen.

“Everyone listen to me! You need to go out the emergency exit!” he shouted, only now seeing Peter.

They stood there, it must only have been a heartbeat, but it was enough for Falcon to be distracted.

“Sam!” Peter yelled, pointing behind Falcon.

He turned. The man-tank had thrown off Captain America and was charging the bus again. Falcon’s wings opened up again, just getting him out of the way as the man-tank collided. Peter gripped the side of seat, but he only barely kept a hold. There was a sudden lurch and the ground vanished, rotating away from them. Peter only had a second to process that as the bus sank and began to fall, pushed off the side of the bridge. Everyone was screaming, holding on to anything they could as tightly as they could. But Peter was free falling. In that second, he saw the bridge moving away from them, could practically feel the water rushing up at them from below, and he acted. He shot a web through the windscreen. It hit the bridge and stuck, but now the bus was shooting passed Peter. He whipped around and grabbed the passing windscreen, holding it tightly and praying that his grip didn’t fail him. He heard a sickening grind in the web at the sudden tension, but it settled as Peter and the bus he held gently swung. He looked up at the bridge. Falcon was looking over the edge, relieved to see Peter with the bus. He ducked away. Clearly, the man-tank was still causing trouble. Then Peter turned back and his heart sank. There was no screaming, no yelling, lots of scared faces and all of them looking at him, comprehension dawning. He couldn’t bear the looks on their faces: Ned with worry, MJ with a mild satisfaction, Flash with disbelief, and every single one of them terrified of their current situation. Peter chose not to look, opting instead to focus on keeping his hold on the bus. He was strong, that much was certain, but he’d never really thought to test his limits. He could feel the creak of the metal in his hand, like it was giving way, but Peter dared not shift his grip. His only hope was that the two on the bridge had reported this situation and someone, maybe Tony or Vision, was coming to help him. No sooner had he formed this hope, when he saw a familiar blue glow. Billy was flying towards him. He didn’t say anything, though his concern was obvious. He took one look at the bus and held his hands to the water below. It bubbled and boiled, crackling with blue energy, leaving in its place a stone platform rising a foot above the river.

“Together” Billy said.

Peter nodded his understanding. The bus was surrounded by the same blue magic that Billy was and Peter felt the load lighten considerably. Carefully, he let the web extend, feeling the friction of it moving between his fingers. Between the two of them, the bus was lowered. He could practically feel the baited breath from the people in the bus. It felt like hours went by, but in reality it was only a few minutes, and the bus was resting safely on the platform. There was frantic movement as the students and teacher tried to get out the emergency exit, but Peter wished they didn’t. News choppers circled overhead, the rotor beats sounding like thunder from the clouds rapidly rolling in. Billy was at his side, at a loss for what to do.

“Peter I could…” he said, but Peter cut him off.

“Go, they need you up there.”

Billy could have tried wiping their memories. None of them would have been any wiser to it, but it was no use. The media flying above their heads would have seen everything, would have seen him.

“Peter” a nervous voice came from behind him.

It was Ned. He glanced back but was stung by the stares of his classmates. His breath quickened. There was a vice crushing his chest and he ran. He jumped, swinging from web to web as fast as he could, as far away from that platform and those stairs as he could. Were people calling his name? He didn’t care. He let out the first sob as the first roll of thunder crashed through the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Please feel free to leave any feedback for me, I appreciate any comment really, good or bad.


	2. Face The Truth or Run From It

As bad situations go, this was definitely one of the worst. Watching Peter swing as fast as he could away from the bridge, Billy wanted nothing more than to go after him. But then the low rumbles of thunder were joined by the explosive sounds of the weird tank suit. The people from the bus were fine; he could see rescue boats being launched to get them. Peter’s classmates were looking at him through fearful tears. He left them, flying back to the bridge. Falcon was ducking and weaving, while Captain America was hiding behind his shield. The tank suit seemed to have two guns, both firing at the two targets.

“ **Disable the guns. Disable the guns. Disable the guns** ” Billy chanted, focussing his energy.

The weapons were wrapped in tendrils of light blue energy for a brief moment, before disappearing. The tank suit turned both guns on him.

“Wiccan!” Falcon yelled.

The tank suit fired, but all the guns did was click uselessly, both of them having been jammed by Billy’s magic. Instead, it charged. Remembering his training, Billy formed a glyph in the air of shimmering blue. The tank suit didn’t bounce off. It collided and hung there as though it had slowed to a stop. If Billy could see the person’s face controlling the suit, he thought they would be very confused right now. He snapped his fingers. The glyph fell like an oddly patterned net over the tank suit, tangling its limbs. It wasn’t as good as he’d seen Dr Strange do it, his had tightened and bound the person entirely, but it would do for now. Falcon resumed his firing, trying to find a weak spot to disable the machine.

“ **Where is it weakest?** ” Billy chanted, though he didn’t have to go past one.

Blue light shone from the back of the knee joint and in the pit of the arm. Both were small. Captain America and Falcon seemed to get the idea. Captain America swung his shield. Billy heard the crunch of wiring and the leg went dead. Another crunch and the tank suit was brought to its knees. The arms tried swiping at him, but the magical net had tangled the arms and was holding them in place quite well. It didn’t stop trying though. It swung at Falcon, but that only exposed the weak spot. Two further crunches of metal and wiring and both arms were disabled. From behind, Captain America pushed the tank suit. With a resounding crash rivalling only the thunder that rolled over head, the tank suit fell, defeated.

“Thanks for the assist” Falcon said as Captain America bent over to examine the machine, checking it was actually disabled.

Assist. Suddenly reminded, he hurried to the side of the bridge. It was a small relief seeing the boats ferrying the students to the bank, but seeing them only deepened the pit in his stomach. He looked up at the news choppers as Falcon joined him, also checking on the students from the bus.

“Where’s Peter?” he asked.

Billy waved a hand in front of him, a quickly evaporating mist following his fingers as he cast his simple locator spell. Images flashed before his eyes, images of a small bedroom, a familiar metal bunkbed and an attic hatch.

“He’s at home” he said.

“This is gonna be one big mess, isn’t it?” Sam said, casting his own eyes upward to the helicopters.

“Most likely” Billy said.

He walked away from Falcon, pulling out his phone as he did so. He’d been given several of the Avengers contacts in case of emergencies, and Billy was definitely sure this counted. He dialled the only person he thought would be any use right now, the person on the Avengers who knew Peter best, besides him. After only a few dials, the sharp voice of Tony Stark was speaking.

“Billy, my favourite tiny bundle of emotions, I don’t usually hear from you. Let me guess, Peter’s been turned into a cat and cat-Peter doesn’t like you. Is that it?”

“No Stark, it’s nothing like that. I need you to meet me at Peter’s apartment building. How soon can you get there?”

There must have been something in his tone, because Tony dropped all joking pretences.

“What’s happened?”

“I’ll explain properly when you get there, but long story short, I think Peter’s identity is out.”

There was silence, then a beat.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Meet me on the roof” Tony said, all business, and then he hung up.

He turned back to Captain America and Falcon. Before he could say anything, Falcon spoke.

“We’re good here. Go” he said.

Billy gave them a nod of thanks and took off running. After a few paces, he wrapped himself in the dull blue glow of magic and flew. It had finally started to rain after threatening to for so long. The drops beat against his face, making it even harder to keep his thoughts straight. Peter was at home, no doubt going crazy over what if scenarios in his head. Billy couldn’t blame him for that. He didn’t envy Peter’s position at all. Most of the Avengers had identities known to the public. That was Tony’s fault; him and his big ego, he had to tell the world about Iron Man. But then, who didn’t know about Steve Rogers, Captain America, the hero of world war two. Since the Avengers came together, the media had demanded to know who had saved New York. Most people found out after SHIELD fell and all its secrets were released. After that, when new members like Falcon and Scarlet Witch joined, they were given the choice of revealing themselves. Sam had, Wanda hadn’t though her name was still available. However some, like Ant-man and like Peter, had chosen not to have their real names associated with the Avengers at all. Peter had joked, they all had really, that there would be a day when everyone knew who he was. Billy had joined in and they’d had a good laugh about it. He didn’t think either of them expected it to be so soon, or revealed in that way. He settled on the roof of the apartment building and waited. Only a few minutes later, he heard the whine of thrusters. In the distance, he saw Tony in an Iron Man suit. The suit landed with a hard clunk of metal on concrete. It opened with no pomp and ceremony, Tony walking out of it and making a beeline straight for him.

“Alright, now spill” he demanded.

 

“And where do you think you’re going.”

“Just out for a walk” Billy said.

Dr Strange looked up from the book he was reading, sitting in the chair he’d appeared in only a few seconds ago.

“Have you finished your studies?” he asked.

“Not unless you’ve had a training session without me.”

“Not what I meant” Strange said.

“Of course I haven’t, it’s still morning” Billy said.

Strange closed his book very pointedly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll do it when I get back” Billy assured him.

He turned to walk away but Strange was stood in front of him.

“I remember people at med school used to give that excuse. Funnily enough, they never then did it” he said.

“I’m not them. Admit it, when I say I’ll do the work, do I not then do it?”

Strange considered for a moment.

“You know, if you were at school you’d have to sit and do lessons properly.”

“If I was at school, I would have breaks.”

“I could still send you to a school.”

“Please do, I’d love to hear how you explain me, and you, to a school.”

This was how these arguments usually ended, with a stalemate. Despite Strange threatening to enrol him in an actual school, neither of them wanted it. Yes they argued like this, but they both enjoyed the others company. Yes Billy complained about Strange like anyone would do for their teacher, but he respected him a great deal. Eventually, Strange relented.

“Fine, but I expect it to be done promptly when you get back.”

With that, he left Billy. Billy enjoyed his walks around New York. It was a big city and there were lots to see. It also helped him feel a little more grounded, wandering about among normal people doing normal things. He also liked hearing bits and pieces about the goings on. There was usually some good gossip floating about so he picked a different spot every time. He’d wandered through Harlem hearing stories about a bulletproof man. When he’d walked through Hell’s Kitchen, they all seemed to fear someone they called the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen. He’d have to look into that, he thought. Today, he felt like a walk along the river, though by the looks of the clouds, he wouldn’t be out very long. That would make Strange happy. The street that ran along the riverbank wasn’t particularly busy. Most of the people were looking at the looming clouds thinking the same thought he just did, to finish their business quickly and get out of the impending rain. There was a low rumble and several booming crashes. The sounds of thunder, Billy thought. He was more than tempted to turn tail and head straight back to the Sanctum, but the wind carried another sound to his ears. It was quiet, but unmistakeable to him. It was screaming. He glanced around, trying to find where it was coming from, when he heard more booming sounds. There was a bridge in the distance. Someone was flying around it, with those wings it could only have been the Falcon. The booming sounds came again. Several other people had stopped, also seeing the commotion. Falcon could probably deal with it on his own, right? But that gun sounded powerful. Maybe he should go and lend a hand. He flew into the air, his suit materialising around him, the raggedy red cape flapping behind him as he made his way as fast as he could to the bridge. His breath hitched as he saw a yellow school bus get pushed off the side of the bridge. He needed to go faster. But then, the bus stopped, suspended in the air. Someone was hanging out of the windscreen, holding the bus up. Wait, was that Peter? It is. Hold on, he doesn’t have his suit on, people are going to see him. So he flew all the harder towards the thunder of gunshots to help his friend.

 

He recounted the story to Tony, condensing as much as he could while still getting across what happened as they moved down the building to Peter’s apartment. Uncharacteristically, Tony didn’t interrupt at all. When he finished, Tony’s face was set, all hard lines and concern.

“I had FRIDAY pull up the news feeds. It’s all over the place, but we may be in luck” Tony said as they reached Peter’s floor.

“How so?” Billy asked. 

“They know that it’s Spiderman, but they don’t have a name.”

“Yet” Billy said gravely.

Tony only nodded as he knocked sharply on Peter’s door. Nobody answered. Tony knocked again, harder this time.

“Alright, alright!” they heard someone say on the other side of the door.

The lock clicked and the door swung inwards. There stood May Parker. She was dressed for a lazy day and her hair was wet like she’d not long come out of the shower. Judging by the blaze in her eyes, she was ready to fight whoever was hammering at her door, but her expression softened slightly when she saw who it was.

“Mr Stark?” she said, confused, “Billy?”

They must have looked quite the sight, Tony in slightly creased work out gear and Billy in the t-shirt and jeans from his suit.

“Hi May” Billy said.

“Is Peter home?” Tony asked.

“Yes he is. Why?” she said, suddenly suspicious.

“We need to see him, now please” Tony said.

May seemed taken aback by the sense of urgency they both were projecting, but she stepped aside to let them in all the same.

“I really hope you’re here to explain yourself Mr Stark. Peter was really looking forward to that trip” May said.

“What?” Tony asked.

“Peter said the trip was cancelled last minute. I assumed something had happened that you weren’t telling him” May said.

Billy and Tony exchanged a look. Peter hadn’t told May what happened. Instead he’d probably told her something so she wouldn’t wonder why he wasn’t at school. May’s suspicion turned to worry.

“What’s this about?” she asked.

“We might have a problem May” Tony said.

Billy went to Peter’s door and knocked.

“Peter, it’s Billy. Open up” he said.

No answer. Tony was at his side almost immediately, knocking as well.

“Kid, we want to talk to you.”

Again, no answer.

“Peter?” May called past them.

Billy tried opening the door but it didn’t budge. He turned the handle but it was locked.

“But he never locks his door” May said quietly.

Tony gave him a nod. Billy clawed his hand and placed it over the keyhole. He concentrated for a moment and then turned his hand. The lock clicked open. Pushing the door open, they all entered the room but it was empty, no Peter.

“That can’t be right” Billy said.

Peter should have been here, his locator spell had said so.

“But he was here” May said, “I saw him go in.”

Tony was looking out the window. It was wide open, the rain from before had gotten heavier and was splattering on the window frame with the large splashes.

“Has he ran away?” May asked, her voice laced with worry, “what’s going on?”

“There was an incident on the way to the compound. Peter had to intervene to save his classmates, but there were quite a lot of witnesses who saw him without his mask” Tony said.

He was keeping his voice level, a very practised calm, but Billy could feel the situation eating at Tony inside. He stood in the centre of the room and clapped his hands together. There were sparks at contact which made May jump. In one fluid motion, he pushed his arms out, wheeling them out until his arms were spread apart. There was a brief flash of light during the motion, but other than that, nothing seemed to have happened.

“Cool trick, now can we please get back to…”

Whatever Tony was going to say was cut off by shivers as a shadowy, ghostly figure stepped through him. May slapped a hand over her mouth, holding back her scream. The figure was of Peter. He entered the room and motioned as though he were closing the door. He paced the room, back and forth frantically, clenching and unclenching his hands. They could see him breathing heavily as well as the tension knotted in his face. He stopped and ran his hands through his hair, his eyes screwed shut. He took a deep breath, followed by a less steady breath before he flung open his eyes, crossed the room, opened the window and was off. They watched the ghostly Peter go in silence.

“He was here” Billy said.

“But where is he now?” Tony asked.

“No idea, but I’m not taking the chance of just missing him again. Mr Stark, are you coming?” Tony nodded, unsure of exactly what he meant, “May?”

May looked scared.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“I’m going to take us straight to Peter. The ultimate shortcut” he said.

May took a deep breath then nodded.

“Ok. This might feel a little strange at first, but everything’ll be fine. Stick close.”

They edged a bit closer to him.

“ **Take us to Peter. Take us to Peter. Take us to Peter** ” he chanted.

A ring of blue energy span around them as he spoke, growing faster and brighter until it completely enveloped them all. He felt the warmth wash over him, felt the lightness, closed his eyes against the brightness until his feet felt firmly attached to the ground again. They were in the living area at the Stark Industries tower, the one Tony had recently reacquired. The top floors were living areas for the Avengers, a more convenient place for those who wanted to live in the heart of the city. Tony swayed on his feet, trying to find his balance. May tottered forward slightly and would have fallen if someone hadn’t grabbed her. They weren’t alone in the room. Clint was stood next to May, holding her steady as she got over being teleported. Natasha was still sat on the couch next to them. He could see her muscles relaxing, as though she had sprung into action but stopped herself when she saw who it was. Behind the couch at the breakfast bar were Scott and his daughter Cassie. He was stood between them and her, while she sat with her mouth open in awe. And there, stood by the window, was Peter. He seemed shocked at their entrance, but otherwise not at all surprised to see them.

“Peter” Billy said, taking a tentative step towards him.

Peter didn’t move, but Billy was sure he saw him tense up.

“Hey Billy, what’s up?” he said with a smile that only looked slightly forced.

“Peter, honey” May said, brimming with emotion as she fought back tears.

Peter very obviously avoided looking at each her.

“How come you teleported in? You do know there’s a perfectly good elevator right over there” Peter said jokingly.

“Kid, are you alright?” Tony asked.

The three of them were slowly advancing on Peter. The tension in his body was obvious now, seeping out into the rest of the room so even the other Avengers felt it.

“What’s going on?” Clint asked, looking between the three and Peter.

“I’m fine, I don’t know why you all look so worried” Peter said, strain just about showing in his voice.

“Peter, we need to…” Billy said however he was interrupted.

Natasha had been channel surfing but had stopped on a news network. Breaking news was flashing in big letters at the top of the screen as a reporter began speaking, drawing everyone’s attention.

“ _Our top story this morning: terror on the Washington Bridge as an experimental military machine ran amok. We’ve been covering this story as it unfolds but this latest development has caused quite the intrigue. Captain America and the Falcon were on the scene quickly and allowed civilians to get way with no serious injuries, but they were unable to stop a bus full of school children from being pushed off the bridge. It would have been a disaster had it not been for the intervention of an individual many believe to be Spiderman. As we can see from news helicopter footage, there is someone holding up the bus and stopping it from falling into the water. This person was later joined by someone only identified in Avengers records as Wiccan who helped get the bus to safety before joining Captain America and Falcon fight the machine. The identity of the individual who saved the bus is as yet unknown as the people on the bus have been taken to the hospital for any treatment needed. We’ll keep you updated as the information comes in._ ”

Natasha switched the TV off and all eyes fell on Peter. He was completely frozen, not looking at any of them. Nobody knew what to say, even Cassie, who never usually shut up. Billy wracked his brain for any words that might help, but couldn’t find any. Peter’s fist clenched, his body shook.

“Oh Peter” May said, stepping forward with her arms open.

Peter yelled. It wasn’t any words in particular. Instead, it was more a scream, venting unsaid emotions and frustrations. Before anyone could stop him, he punched the window with all of his strength. The glass was reinforced, but Peter was strong and didn't care about his limitations at the moment, and it shattered, leaving a big hole.

“Peter!” several people shouted as he jumped from the tower into the rain.

They ran to window and watched him sliding down the side of the building.

“What’s he thinking?” May said.

“He isn’t thinking. He’s running” Billy said.

There was nothing for it. Billy jumped out the window after him; he wasn’t going to lose him, not now when he needed help the most. He span, motioning for the glass to rise up and return to its window, which it did. As he fell, he saw Peter jump from the tower and swing away.

 

The rain was heavy. It smacked into this face, arms, body, everything, drenching him completely and chilling him to the bone, but Peter didn’t care. He thought he could pretend that everything was alright, that nothing had changed, that nobody knew. How stupid he’d been? This was the age of 24 hour news, of social media, where any secret that gets revealed is spread everywhere in a matter of minutes. He couldn’t escape it. It was like a great beast chasing after him, always nipping at his heels, never letting him stop. It was too late to stop. Peter didn’t care that he was swinging out in the open with no mask. The people below him could look up and see him and it would make no difference, they would all know soon enough anyway so why bother hiding. Peter had lost the one place he had where he could hide away, where he didn’t have to think about his own problems because other people needed help, and Spiderman always helped people in need. How long he ran for, he couldn’t tell you. All he knew was that his fingers were going numb. They fumbled over his wet web launchers and he failed to fire off his next shot. Peter fell, tumbling from the sky. Luckily there was a low roof just below him and he didn’t fall far. All the same, it still hurt. He tried getting up but he didn’t have the strength. His knuckles were bruised and bloody, small shards of glass embedded in them. He felt the cold more strongly now. The shivers were almost unbearable. He curled into a ball, trying to conserve any heat he still had. Why had he jumped from the tower? He was a complete idiot. May was going to kill him when she found out. May! She was at the tower, but why? Billy had brought her, with Tony. They must have gone to the apartment first. Peter hadn’t been able to bear it there. Everything was too normal, too much like everything was still alright. May was probably still going to kill him, but for scaring her to death by jumping from a skyscraper than for anything else. Maybe if he just lay here, he wouldn’t have to deal with it. It wasn’t so bad. The rain was stopping so he wouldn’t get any wetter, and what luck, it was even getting warmer.

“Peter” someone said behind him.

Slowly, he peered out from his curled up self and saw Billy standing on the roof with him. Peter uncurled and sat properly. The roof was covered by a dome of clear energy, keeping out the rain and making it warm. Peter was waiting for a lecture, shouting, any kind of admonishment from his friend, but none came. Billy didn’t say anything. Instead, he knelt in front of Peter and took his injured hand. He muttered something and his hand was enveloped in glowing energy. The pain eased, the blood cleared, the glass vanished. Billy conjured a fluffy towel from nowhere and wrapped it around Peter’s shoulders, before sitting down in front of him and still not saying anything. He didn’t want to push him away, Peter thought, he didn’t want to make him run again. Peter felt horrible. Everyone back at the tower was probably so scared for him right now. He should have said something to them, made them understand, told them that everything was fine, but who was he kidding, it wasn’t.

“I shouldn’t have ran off. I’m sorry” he said.

“You don’t have to apologise for that” Billy said kindly.

There was silence again. Peter's thoughts were all over the place.

“Come back to the tower Peter” Billy said.

“I can’t” Peter said.

“You can’t stay here” Billy said.

Peter said nothing. He’d love nothing more than to get off this roof, but he didn’t know if he was ready to face the Avengers yet.

“Peter, there is a whole group of people who would be ready, who are ready and willing to help you.”

Peter recognised those words. He’d said them to Billy before, when he was scared of being alone.

“Right now, they’re worried about you. You can’t hide from them forever, not when they know what you’re going through” Billy said.

Peter took a deep breath and nodded. They both stood up. Billy wrapped an arm around his shoulders and gave him a reassuring squeeze. Peter didn’t react at all to the warm lightness of Billy’s teleportation, only squinting at the bright light. They were in Peter’s room at the tower. Billy led him back to the main lounge area. Before it had been relaxed, Clint and Scott had been joking while Natasha flicked through the channels. Now there was hurried activity. Scott was talking softly to May on the couch. Tony’s voice echoed down the hallway. He was obviously talking on the phone and by the sounds of it, becoming more and more irate. The TV had been switched back on. It was still on the news, though muted. Good, Peter thought, he had a certain animosity towards the news at the moment. His phone buzzed in his pocket, but he didn’t have the energy to answer it. May looked up from her conversation and saw Peter. Tears immediately formed in her eyes as she swooped over and pulled him into a hug.

“I’m sorry May” he whispered into her shoulder, willing himself not to cry as well.

May didn’t say anything, just held him tightly. Billy tapped away on his phone. He frowned and looked over at Peter.

“Ned’s been trying to talk to you” he said.

Peter extracted himself from May and checked his own phone. There were lots of missed calls and texts from Ned, as well as a handful from MJ. He was tempted to look through them, but that would mean facing the situation, which he did not want to do right now.

“He says there were reporters at the hospital asking questions. He has no idea what people were saying” Billy said to someone else.

It was Tony, who’d just entered the room. His face flushed with relief when he saw Peter.

“Good kid, that Ned. I’ve been trying to get gag orders placed on the news networks, try and stop them revealing anything, but it’s been difficult. Thankfully my lawyers are the best. I don’t think we should worry too much” Tony said.

“Don’t speak too soon” Clint said, unmuting the TV.

“ _A new development in the Washington Bridge attack: reporters have managed to interview witnesses to the incident. According to Daily Bugle reporters, the bus had contained students from Midtown School of Science and Technology on a field trip. Some of the students, who we cannot name due to confidentiality reasons, have told reporters that it was one of their classmates._ ”

Then the reporter said the words that made Peter’s heart sink so hard and so fast that he didn’t think he’d ever find it again.

“ _They said that Spiderman is Peter Parker._ ”

“Shit” he heard Tony say as he jammed his phone to his ear.

All around him, people were reacting to the news. He could do nothing but stare. It was somehow not as bad as he thought, that is if you considered emptiness to be preferable to hysterical screaming. Though it didn’t really matter how he felt. His secret was out. Everyone knew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading. I would be very grateful for any feedback you can give me.
> 
> I seem to have developed the habit of chapter 2 being long compared to chapter 1, even though the outline for both chapter is about the same length. Don't know what that says about me, but oh well.


	3. Consequently

“Confidientiality my ass!”

Tony fumed, pacing back and forth. Everyone watched him go; knowing full well speaking would bring his ire down on them. The TV was off. Nobody wanted to keep watching it, Tony had had FRIDAY monitor it for anything important just in case. Peter retired to his room with May, unable to really process what happened. They all let him go. Lord knows he needed space now to be with his family.

“They said they couldn’t reveal the name of their source as that would breach the confidentiality of a minor! Ha! Didn’t stop them from revealing a minor’s name to millions of people!”

“It had to be one of his classmates, but which one?” Clint said.

“I’ve got an idea” Billy said under his breath, “is there nothing you can do?”

Tony fixed him with such an intense stare Billy was surprised he wasn’t firing actual laser beams. Billy didn’t back down though. Eventually, Tony relented, resuming his pacing.

“Oh there is. I’ve slapped huge gag orders on every other station I can find and am bringing the biggest lawsuit I can legally get away with down on that NYSN.”

“And the Daily Bugle? They published it first” Scott asked.

“They’ve barely changed the article” Billy said.

He’d checked. After they heard the report, he’d pulled up the Daily Bugle website and there it was, in bold print, ‘Spiderman: Peter Parker’. The headline was different now, but the text of the article itself was largely the same.

“They’ll get what’s coming to them, mark my words” Tony fumed.

“We might have a bigger problem” Natasha said, “the Accords.”

Tony froze mid pace and turned to face her. Billy didn’t care much for politics, but he had made special effort, both him and Dr Strange, to understand the Sokovia Accords, especially with all the recent amendments. The Thanos incident had proved that the Avengers needed at least some autonomy if they were to be able to respond to threats with any semblance of speed. If they’d had to wait for committee approval, Thanos’s initial attacks in New York and Wakanda, as well as all the subsequent battles it took to stop him, would have been a lot more disastrous. So the Accords had been nulled, all crimes committed under their jurisdiction suspended, until they could be amended to account for the reality of the world. The rogue Avengers had been pardoned, and Tony and Steve had both sat down with the UN committee to make sure all sides were heard and the Accords worked as best they could. So now the Avengers were largely autonomous, the committee acting as an independent examiner. Strange had likened it to a third party accountant examining the accounts of a charity to make sure all the financials were correct. Given their current status, the Accords had been re-ratified, and the Avengers had signed it. Peter, however, had not. Tony hadn’t let him, as doing so would mean his real name would be on record. Peter’s actions as a neighbourhood hero also didn’t breach the Accords, so he wasn’t required to sign it anyway.

“What about the Accords?” Tony asked pointedly, “he’s not breached them and besides, he’s not old enough to sign.”

“You really think Ross’ll see it that way” Natasha said.

FRIDAY beeped overhead.

“Incoming holo-call from Secretary Ross” the AI said.

“Speak of the devil” he said under his breath, “tell him I’m busy FRI.”

“He says if you don’t answer him, he’ll come marching into the tower himself.”

Tony huffed.

“Fine!”

The lights in the room dimmed fractionally as the holo-projectors kicked into to life. In the middle of the room, standing before them all, was Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross. He immediately set his sights on Tony.

“Hello Satan, what’s the weather like in hell?” Tony joked.

“Is Peter Parker available to talk?” he asked, ignoring him.

Billy almost thought he sounded cordial, but he saw through it. He knew Ross by reputation. The Avengers did not like him at all.

“Now’s really not the best time, you know, we’re waiting on Cap and then we’re having dinner, so how about you call again tomorrow, or maybe two weeks on Thursday?” Tony said.

“Cut the crap Tony, I know he’s there somewhere. If he isn’t, I know you know where he is. I need to talk to Peter Benjamin Parker and I need to talk to him now.”

“What about, Mr Secretary?” Natasha asked, echoing Ross’s fake cordial tone.

Ross considered her question for a moment. Billy knew he was wondering whether he should even answer it.

“That’s between me and the boy, Ms Romanov” he said.

Billy was starting to understand the animosity between them. There could only be one reason Ross was asking after Peter so why the evasion? He saw Scott hush Cassie. The tension that was building was uncomfortable, but nobody wanted to be the one to break it.

“Let’s see here. It’s my tower you decided to call, it’s my technology you’re using to call me, and it’s my time you’re wasting with this call, so this business of yours is also my business” Tony said.

Ross glared at him for a moment, before addressing the room at large.

“It has come to the attention of the UN Accords committee that Peter Benjamin Parker has been acting within the purview of the Sokovia Accords without a corresponding signature indicating his compliance with the statutes specified within. Until a valid signature has been obtained, he will be treated as a criminal subject to penalties as laid out by the Accords.”

He rattled off the official speech so effortlessly, Billy had to wonder whether he was reading from a speech. He looked around to see everyone else’s reaction. Nobody seemed to have shifted at all.

“Was that supposed to be scary Ross?” Clint asked.

“Is Peter there or isn’t he?”

“Yes he is here, but no, he won’t be signing anything. Not that any signature would be valid anyway, since he isn’t even eighteen” Tony said, staring Ross down.

“Stark” Ross warned.

“Save your breath. Peter’s done nothing wrong. Spiderman is a recognised Avenger who’s actions have all been legal” Tony said.

“I’m not taking no for an answer Tony” Ross threatened.

“Yes you are” Tony said as the hologram switched off.

Billy was impressed. Tony’d just slammed the door in the face of the Secretary of State.

 

The evening approached. Scott had left to take his daughter to her mothers. Steve and Sam had returned from the Compound. They distractedly talked about the tank suit, but Billy knew they wanted to ask about Peter. They both weren’t at all surprised to hear about Ross’s call.

“He’s been angry about that for ages” Steve said.

“What, Peter not signing?” Billy asked.

“The changes to the Accords mainly, but that as well.”

They set the table for eight, unsure as they were if either May or Peter would join them. They were saved the trouble of asking when May appeared in the lounge.

“Would it be alright if I took some food back to Peter’s room? He doesn’t feel up for lots of company right now” she asked.

“Sure thing” Tony said as he and Clint made to fill two plates for her.

“You should probably know, I swung through Queens on my way back from the Compound” Steve said to May, “there were loads of reporters outside an apartment block. I take it that’s yours.”

“What?”

“FRIDAY?” Tony asked.

“Pulling up security feeds now Boss” the AI replied.

A holo-screen appeared in front of him. It was the view from a camera looking out of the main entrance to May’s apartment building. Just as Steve had said, they could see through the glass of the doors lots of people with cameras and microphones.

“Vultures” Tony said under his breath, swiping the screen away.

“But how did they…?” May asked.

“It’s the internet” was all Tony said, “I’ll have a room set up for you here in the tower, until the heat dies down.”

May looked too stunned to argue with him. She thanked them for the food and went back to Peter’s room. They began eating in mostly silence.

“At least it’s the weekend. He won’t have to put up with school for a few days” Billy said when they’d finished.

That reminded him, he never did finish his work. He guessed that Strange had seen the news since he hadn’t tried calling him.

“That’s something” Clint said.

“Kids are dicks” Tony said.

Nobody wanted to argue with him.

 

Saturday arrived and the atmosphere in the tower was subdued. All anyone wanted to talk about was either Peter or Ross, but nobody said anything, mostly because they didn’t want Peter walking in on them discussing it but also because Tony was likely to snap at them. Peter hadn’t come out of his room since the previous day. May said he was feeling drained and wanted some alone time to recover. She was bustling about the kitchen making soup, insisting that she repay some of their kindness by making them lunch. Billy was tempted to joke about her cooking, he’d heard enough about it from Peter, but he kept his mouth shut and accepted the gesture.

“Boss, you might want to see this” FRIDAY said, switching on the TV.

“What now?” Tony said impatiently.

Everyone turned to face the screen. It was a broadcast from NYSN, the same station they’d watched the other day. It was even the same reporter.

_As more details emerge about the Spiderman Identity story, we must take a moment to realise that he is also a person. Spiderman may be a public figure, but the person under the mask is not. As journalists, it is our responsibility to be mindful in our reporting. Yesterday, we failed in that responsibility. From all of us here at the NYSN newsroom, we offer our most sincere apologies to the individual we named in our coverage of the incident._

FRIDAY shut the TV off. Billy didn’t know how to feel about the apology. It was too little too late, but it was also not nothing. Tony didn’t say anything. He merely resumed his near frantic activity. May also resumed her cooking of the soup. The smells drifting over from the kitchen were good, why had Peter said May couldn’t cook well? His phone buzzed. There were several messages from Ned.

_Hey, how’s Peter?_

_What’s going on with Peter?_

_Is Peter alright?_

What? Ned seemed agitated. Billy texted back, asking why he didn’t ask Peter these questions, but then another message came through.

_Can you get Peter to call me or something?_

Was Peter not answering Ned? He answered Billy’s text, saying that Peter hadn’t answered a single message since what happened on the bridge. That didn’t sound like Peter at all. May had said he wanted time alone, but surely he couldn’t ignore his best friend. He snuck across to Peter’s bedroom and knocked. When there was no answer, he knocked again. He opened the door ever so slightly and peered inside. The room was dark, the window tinted black, blocking out the light. On the bed, hidden under the blankets was a lump that could only be Peter. Was he still asleep, or just trying to hide from the world? Billy left him to it either way. He sent a message to Ned, hopefully reassuring him. Returning to the living room, Billy couldn’t take the awkward silence. He plugged his headphones into his phone, tuning out the room with endless commentary. Peter was the hot button issue at the moment so there wasn’t exactly a lack of it.

_…he undoubtedly did a good thing…_

_…how his parents let him do these things is beyond me?_

_…there certainly is the issue of parental responsibility, but the bigger problem is…_

Everyone and their mother seemed to be weighing in on this. It had barely been twenty four hours!

_Welcome back to New York State News, I'm Craig Gill. Our top story, the identity of the individual known as Spiderman has been revealed. Despite it only occurring yesterday, it has caused a media frenzy across the country, as well as posing some difficult questions among people in government. Joining us now is Clarice McKenna, political correspondent for the Daily Bugle. Clarice, thank you for joining me._

_Thank you for having me._

_The story only broke yesterday, yet given the media coverage, you’d be forgiven for thinking that we were weeks into a month long trial. Why has there been such passion, for want of a better word, from the media?_

_Like so much around this topic, there’re many different reasons. First of all, there is the age issue. People aren’t stupid. He may only be identified now, but Spiderman has been active in New York for at least two years. There’s also the issue of vigilantism and the debate surrounding that. Spiderman acts in a way that the Avengers at large do not, and that’s being involved in street level crime. We see the same questions posed in Hell’s Kitchen..._

_We live in a world with the Avengers. We know who they are. Why has Spiderman’s identity been such a flashpoint given that?_

_For that I think the age thing is the key point. The Avengers are all adults. For all the amazing and scary things they can do, before the eyes of the law, they are adults. Spiderman, as it turns out, is not. A lot of the comments we’re seeing online are from concerned parents wondering where this kids parents are!_

_Is this an issue of parental responsibility then?_

_Well, I think that there are a lot of important issues that Spiderman’s identity raises, parental responsibility is one of them._

_Like what?_

_Sorry?_

_What other issues are there?_

_There are so many. Some of them have even impacted the station that we’re speaking on._

_You’re referring to the apology given by Donna Gregory earlier today?_

_Yes I am._

_Do you think there’s an issue of privacy?_

_I absolutely believe there is an issue of privacy, one which I applaud NYSN for acknowledging and attempting to rectify._

_The Daily Bugle was the one to initially publish Spiderman’s identity to the public and yet you believe that there is an issue of privacy._

_Look, the decision to publish that was not mine. Even though it might hurt my career, I’ll say I do not agree with the decision to publish and I wish that the editorial board changed their position._

_Ok, we’re running out of time, so we’ll end with one further question. We’re having Secretary of State Ross on to discuss this. He’s been a prominent voice in the discussion around accountability for the Avengers. What question would you ask him with regard to his case?_

“Lunch is ready!” May called.

It was the perfect excuse to stop listening. At least that journalist had been fair. The soup tasted as delicious as it smelled, but it was noticeable that Peter didn’t join them. They all silently agreed not to question it, even though inside they all hated it. May took him a bowl of soup and nothing further was said. After lunch, Billy couldn’t bring himself to keep listening to the news but didn’t know what else to do. Therefore, he was incredibly grateful when Cassie asked if he’d play with her. He suspected she’d asked him, instead of her father, because he could make the toys move on their own.

“Is Peter going to be ok?” she asked.

Billy paused, considering his answer. He saw Scott stop what he was doing so he could listen to the conversation.

“I hope so” was all he could say.

Cassie seemed to accept this. She didn’t have much choice because the Dora the Explorer doll had stolen the ugly rabbit’s favourite teacup.

“Hey!” she said.

 

Dinner rolled around with no sign of Peter emerging. Billy had poked his head in again. Thankfully, Peter had been up, though he’d been sat by the window, staring out at the bleak cityscape. Billy had tried talking to him, but he hadn’t responded.

“He’s not going to shut himself off from everyone, is he?” Billy asked as they were setting the table.

“I hope not. Isolation isn’t good for most people at the best of times. It’s even worse when you’re going through hard times” Sam said.

May paused, hands twisting at her sides as though she were considering something big. Without a word, she hurried off in the direction of Peter’s room.

“Should we save her some?” Sam asked.

They did, because none of them wanted to face an angry May if they’d eaten all of the homemade meatballs she had ‘spent years of hard work with a disappointed Italian mother to get right’, to use her words. As they sat down, Billy caught Steve smirking at him. He very obviously passed him a napkin.

“In case you make a mess” he joked.

“Thank you Steve, because I really need reminding of that” Billy said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Tony grinned. Sam and Pepper, both of whom had not been witness to the last time Billy had meatballs, shot confused looks at each other.

“I’ll tell you later” Tony said to Pepper.

A short while later, they hadn’t even started eating, May returned, leading a very withdrawn Peter along with her.

“You don’t have to eat, you don’t have to talk, but you do have to sit with us for dinner” she was saying to him.

She placed him between her and Billy.

“So Tony, what’s this I hear about you and prosthetics?” Steve asked, masterful evasion of the elephant in the room, one which everyone was grateful to jump in on.

Conversation followed in that vein, moving from one topic to the next in that wonderful way that conversations do. It had the desired effect. Peter picked at his food, slowly but surely working his way through the plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Billy even saw him crack a smile every now and then. Surely it wouldn’t last, and it didn’t. Two little comments saw to that.

“It’s taken a lot of work, lots of back and forth between here and Korea, but I’m glad we don’t have to keep quiet about Stark Industries expansion there” Pepper said.

“Sounds good, though I have no idea why you kept it a secret in the first place” Sam said.

Billy didn’t have a spider sense to tell him when things were going wrong. He wasn’t like Wanda, who could read the room to know when things were going south. He didn’t have that. Regardless, he still felt a certain chill coming from beside him. Peter was staring blankly ahead. He was clutching his fork with white knuckles, the metal bending beneath his grip. Tony was sitting across from him and had noticed it as well. He tried silently telling Sam to shut up, but he was already speaking.

“I mean, you’re just like …” Sam said, though he too saw Peter and instantly regretted letting his mouth run riot.

Peter stood up, knocking his chair to the floor.

“None of you understand! I heard you talking about me with Ross!”

“Peter, we get that you’re upset but please calm down” May said, tugging his arm.

“Upset! I’m devastated! None of you know what that’s like!”

“That’s out of line Peter! Everybody knows who we all are, we know exactly what you’re feeling” Tony said, getting to his feet as well.

“Yeah, you’re just like us now” Sam said, trying to defuse the situation.

“No I’m not!” Peter shouted.

Billy couldn’t believe this, and apparently neither could anyone else. Peter would never have dreamed of shouting at someone, especially Tony.

“All of you, you can take off the suit at the end of the day and still be you. I put on the suit so I can be someone else! I can be someone who actually matters, who can make a difference! I don’t have to be the nerdy scholarship student with dead parents who gets bullied by the other kids. When I’m Spiderman, I don’t have to worry what people think of me. When I’m Spiderman, I can be brave! I can stand up for myself! But now all of that is gone! It’s been taken away from me, just like everything else!”

He was breathing heavily. Before any of them could respond, Peter stormed off. Billy was expecting to hear a door slam, and didn’t know if he should be more worried when he didn’t hear one. May was almost immediately on her feet and following him but everyone else remained at the table. Whatever anger Tony felt at Peter’s outburst was replaced by the shock of hearing what he said. Sam and Pepper exchanged guilty looks, though Billy couldn’t find any reason to blame them. Well, maybe Sam with his runaway mouth, but apart from that. None of them knew why Peter kept being Spiderman, despite having the suit taken from him, and his Aunt finding out, and everything to do with Thanos. Now they knew. It was as much a way for him to cope with his life as it was his way of being there for the little guy. It helped him as much as it helped other people. Tony sat down again and they finished their meal in silence.

 

There must have been another unspoken agreement, this time to not disturb Peter too much. Because it was true what he said, none of them had understood what Spiderman meant to him, not even Billy. May was with him in his room all day. Both Sam and Pepper spoke to him as well, apologising for whatever they said that made him feel angry. From what they said when they came back to the lounge, he was at least talking to them still, he hadn’t completely shut them out. When Tony went in to talk, nobody else spoke. They were waiting for another explosive argument, but it never came. Billy had never even considered the possibility that they would argue the first time. He’d seen Tony argue and get angry, but never with Peter, even when they disagreed. Ned kept messaging him throughout the day and Billy tried his best to keep him informed. Not that there was much to say.

“ _If you can, let him know that MJ and I will be there for him tomorrow at school. He is going to school, right?_ ”

He replied that he didn’t know. He hadn’t even considered school, not since Friday when he was happy that Peter didn’t have to worry about it just yet, but now he did. Billy wracked his brain. Should Peter go to school? Would Tony let him? Would May let him? Maybe the other kids would be alright with it? Maybe nothing will have changed too much? The only problem was they’d never really know unless Peter went, and that might be too much to ask of him right now. But if they didn’t, then it would only throw fuel on the already extensive media fire. He’d tuned in to hear Ross’s interview on NYSN and turned it off after only a few minutes. It was pretty much identical to what he’d said during the initial press for the Sokovia Accords. Billy hadn’t liked it then, and he didn’t like it now. Footsteps softly padded towards him and May sank into the couch next to him. Tony glanced up from his work but didn’t otherwise move.

“How is he?” Billy asked.

“He’s better than he was. I had no idea” she said, leaving a lot silent.

Billy had no intention of pushing things further. What Peter said to his Aunt was between them, and he would tell Billy, or not, when he wanted to. There was one thing Billy did want to ask however, but May got there first.

“He doesn’t want to go to school tomorrow.”

“What?” Tony said, putting down his things to look at May properly.

“He said he doesn’t think he can face his classmates, not after he saved all their lives. Honestly I don’t blame him, but I also don’t want him to fall behind” May said, clearly torn.

“Peter’s too good for that school anyway” Tony muttered, “I think it would be a bad idea for him to miss school. When I announced that I was Iron Man, do you know how many interviews I did?”

May made a face and Tony hurriedly kept talking.

“No, I’m not saying he needs to do interviews. My point is I had to get control of the narrative that was forming around me.”

He pointed at the blank TV screen.

“We’ve all seen how the media is going mad over this. If Peter doesn’t get out ahead of it, it’s only going to get worse.”

“I know that,” May said, “but I don’t know what to say to him to get him to go. ”

Billy frowned, thinking hard. Tony made a good point. Peter is too good for that school, he thought, especially if they treat him badly for this. He saved people’s lives! But the mask had fallen now, Peter had no source of bravery to retreat too. So maybe, what if? Could he do that? He probably could, but would it even be legal? Unethical perhaps, but still.

“You seem strangely quiet” Tony said.

Billy paused for a moment, considering their position.

“We need to know how people are going to treat him, right?” Billy asked.

“Yes” Tony said.

“But at the same time, we’re also worried about how they’re going to treat him?”

“Yes” May said.

“And we don’t know how to get Peter to go?”

“Yes” they both said, urging him to get to the point.

“I think I have a plan that just might work, but you’ll have to trust me.”

May and Tony exchanged a look. May turned back and nodded her agreement. Tony studied him a bit more, before he too nodded. It was time to get down to business.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there!
> 
> As always, I would be grateful for any feedback you might have on this chapter, or this work as a whole, or even just how your week is going. I don't mind.


	4. How They See You

As the car pulled up the school building, Peter clutched his bag more tightly. This was fine. He just had to get through this day, prove to himself that he could do it, and everything will be alright. Ned and MJ’ll be there so he won’t be alone. Beside him, Tony squeezed his shoulder in support. From the front, Happy gave him a reassuring nod.

“You sure about this?” Tony asked.

“Absolutely” he said.

With that, he exited the car and watched it drive away. The high school loomed over him imperiously like it was staring at him. He took a deep breath, put one foot in front of the other and walked inside. The effect was almost immediate. It was like he had a flashing neon sign above his head because everyone turned to stare at him. He kept his gaze focussed in front of him. Stares were fine, he could handle stares. He caught glimpses of them as he passed. Some people were sneering at him, others were in awe. He didn’t know which he preferred, just as long as they left him alone. Muttering and whispering followed him through the corridors as he wound his way to his locker. At least, he thought, people kept walking, nobody was stopping to talk to him.

“Hey Peter” a familiar voice said behind him.

It was Ned, who was accompanied by MJ. She flashed him a warm smile.

“Hi guys” he said to them as he pulled books from the locker.

“So we were thinking if you need us to be, like, your bodyguards or something, to help you get through the school alright, we’re totally up for that” Ned said.

Peter chuckled, stopping only when he saw Ned was being completely serious.

“What? No” he said.

“But Peter…” Ned said but Peter interrupted him.

“I appreciate it man, but I don’t want to have to walk around constantly tailed by people. It makes me feel anxious” Peter said.

“Well, the offer stands either way” MJ said, leaving it there.

She nudged Ned. Ned snapped to as though he remembered something.

“Oh yeah” he said to MJ, “we were asked to tell you that the Principal wants to see you.”

Peter was confused. He hadn’t done anything, why did Principal Morita want to see him. Ned looked just as confused as him. MJ, as usual, was more of a mask. Shrugging his bag back on his shoulders, he went to the Principal’s office. People continued to stare, though they seemed to be growing more confident, not bothering to hush their voices as he walked past. He knocked on Morita’s door and entered.

“Mr Parker, thank you for coming. Please have a seat” the man said.

Though he’d done nothing more than greet him, something about this put Peter on edge. Maybe it was the way Morita had squinted ever so slightly when Peter entered the room, or maybe it was the way he kept shifting in his chair. Either way, something seemed off.

“Is there something wrong sir?” Peter asked.

“I hope not” Morita said.

Morita took a deep breath, making a big deal about settling into his seat properly.

“Peter, I want you to understand that you’re a good student. You’re definitely a credit to this school.”

Where was this going?”

“I just want you and I to be clear on the rules here.”

Wait! What? If he’s a good student, why does he need a sit down with the Principal to go over the rules?

“What do you mean?” Peter asked.

“In light of recent events, the staff feel it appropriate to be clear on where the boundaries are, especially with regard to your … differences.”

The way he said the last word made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. Morita, for his part, also seemed unsure of how to proceed, like he was thinking about every single word that came out of his mouth.

“Is this really necessary sir? You even said I’m a good student” Peter said, hoping to get out of this.

“I’m afraid it is Peter, so we can be sure student safety is protected.”

Protection! Peter let the injustice of the unspoken allegation hang in the air, even as his blood boiled.

“You are not to use whatever powers you possess on school property. This is absolute Peter. If a teacher tells you to back off from a situation, to walk away, to not do anything, or gives you any other instruction, you will do it. Any failure to meet these standards will result in punishments. Am I clear?”

He listed them off with a kind of professional detachment that made Peter sick.

“Why are you being so hard on me? You’re treating me as if I’m some kind of dangerous criminal!”

“You’re not a criminal Peter, but you have to realise that you do pose a certain level of risk to students.”

Peter bit back his retort. He wanted desperately for Morita to say what he really thought, not hide behind platitudes of ‘you’re a good student Peter’.

“Are you going to be saying this to Ned, or to Michelle, or to Betty, or any of the other good students in this school?”

“They don’t have powers Peter” Morita said.

The bell rang and Peter was dismissed. Anger at everything pounded through his system, but he made himself keep his face calm. He wouldn’t give people any excuse to do anything, especially if he had a looming cloud of punishment over his head. People were too busy getting to their first period classes to spare him more than a second glance. Most of his Physics class were already seated by the time he got there. They all fell silent as he entered the room. All of their eyes were on him as he sat down at his stool. Nobody said anything and Peter made sure not to look at anyone.

“Hey Parker, my man.”

He felt an arm around his shoulder and he was pressed into a one armed hug by none other than Flash Thompson. Flash usually spent his time coming up with nicknames for Peter, though he obviously thought that ‘Penis Parker’ was the height of hilarity. What was he up to now?

“How’ve you been buddy?” Flash said.

That was it. Flash was attempting to suck up to him, act all buddy-buddy so he could say he was friends with an Avenger. Well tough.

“Leave me alone Flash” he said.

“What? You think you’re too good for me now?” Flash said, tightening his grip on Peter’s shoulders.

“I said leave me alone.”

This time, he pushed as well, gently.

“I get it. Now that everyone knows you’re Spiderman, you think you have to act all troubled and cool. You are allowed to have friends, stupid.”

“My friends don’t include you Flash, so just go away” he pushed a little more forcefully so that Flash let go of his shoulders.

Before Flash could say anything, their teacher, Mrs Avery, arrived. She took one look at Flash and Peter and sighed.

“Flash, sit down.”

“But miss, he pushed me!”

“After you wouldn’t leave him alone, now sit down” she said.

Peter felt the knot in his stomach loosen slightly. At least one teacher hadn’t immediately turned on him. Mrs Avery put her files down on the teacher’s desk and faced Peter once again.

“Peter, I’m not going to make a big deal other than to say, on behalf of all of us here, thank you for what you did on Friday. You saved our lives.”

Peter’s heart soared. Mrs Avery smiled warmly at him before addressing her class.

“Ok, we left off last time discussing Lenz’s law.”

He could feel Flash’s eyes burning into his back for the rest of the lesson. He kept his head down either way, not wanting to draw any more attention to himself than there already was. Mrs Avery didn’t ask him any questions, which he was grateful for. He hung back slightly after class, hoping to let people move through the corridors and avoid as much traffic as possible, but there were still plenty of stares. Peter couldn’t help but be drawn to the sneers, couldn’t help but hear the harsh comments.

“This sucks” he said under his breath.

“It’s not all bad” MJ said.

“Please tell me you’re joking, look at them” he said.

“You look at them! They’re not all scowling” she said.

Peter looked again. This was true. There were definitely scowls, definitely glares, but there were also smiles. Now that he listened, he could hear people defending him to their friends, he heard compliments and nice words. This elation carried him for the rest of the morning.

 

Lunch was always going to be a nightmare. One crowded room full of students and a line up where he would be incredibly visible. Sure enough, as he turned around with his tray looking for a table, all eyes were on him, or at least that’s how it felt.

“Go home freak!”

“You’re a danger to us normal people!”

He ignored the insults.

“Hey Peter, come sit with us!”

“Yo Spiderman, we’re cool, sit with us!”

He ignored the requests, letting it all wash over him as he finally found Ned and MJ. MJ had done her thing and the table was free. What her thing was, Peter had no idea, but whatever it was, it had worked.

“Dude, you should have brought lunch from home” Ned said.

“I wasn’t exactly at home over the weekend” Peter said.

“Yeah, Billy told me. That sucks man” Ned said.

They were sat beneath one of the screens playing the school TV show. Peter only spared a glance before looking away. Like normal, it was hosted by Jason and Betty, all terrible green screen and stilted delivery. Normally Peter didn’t mind, but it seemed, like everyone else with a camera and a platform, all they were talking about was him.

“The debate team have announced the topic for their open session. It is ‘Should Spiderman be allowed at this school?’ Anyone with an opinion is invited to come and share it” Betty said.

“So if you have an opinion, you should go” Jason said.

The pair of them at least seemed a little conflicted, though it was hard to tell through their wooden reading.

“Parker!” someone shouted at him.

Peter didn’t even look up, content as he was to just ignore it.

“Hey Parker, I’m talking to you!” the voice said again, much closer to him this time.

Peter recognised the voice and sighed. He turned and there stood Flash.

“I’ve got a bone to pick with you, Parker. You owe me!” he said defiantly.

Several people were staring at them now.

“What are you talking about?” Peter asked.

“You stole my dad’s car. Do you know how long I was grounded for for that?” Flash seethed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Flash” Peter said.

“You don’t remember it! What, you think you’re so much better than all of us, you can just forget about something like that!”

“Is this guy giving you trouble Flash?” someone asked.

Jack and Jasmine Peers had swaggered over, followed by their little pack. They surrounded Peter on all sides. Jasmine leaned against Flash while Jack loomed over Peter.

“What’s this I hear about a stolen car? If only there was a ‘hero’ around who could help us” Jack mocked.

The pack laughed. The people around them looked uncomfortable.

“Leave him alone” Ned and MJ said, but this only made Jasmine laugh.

“Some hero, needing to be saved by a fatty and a girl” she said.

“You’re a girl” MJ countered.

“And do you see me getting my hands dirty? Not a chance, I spent too long on these nails. Maybe if you spent some more time looking at a mirror than a book, you might realise that nobody gives a shit about you” Jasmine said.

MJ flushed and Peter felt angry. He stood up but Tony’s voice was in his ear. Don’t let them get to you. Don’t engage. They’re dicks beyond a doubt but don’t do anything. Too late, as the pack smirked at him even standing.

“Look at him, diving in to protect the fair maiden” Jack sneered.

There was nothing for it. He had to leave. But everywhere he turned, there was someone in his way.

“What’re you gonna do Parker? What’re you gonna do?” Jack said.

“He can’t do anything. I heard that Morita’d expel him if he so much as touches anyone else” Jasmine added.

“Oh really” Jack said.

He pushed Peter. He stumbled slightly against the bench but remained standing. Don’t react. Don’t push back. Jack pushed him again.

“Come on Parker!”

Peter tried leaving, but Jack purposefully stood in front of him.

“What’s the matter? You too scared?”

Peter didn’t care how he looked right now. He turned around and climbed over the table, walking as quickly as he could as far away as he could. Thankfully, the bell rang and the flood of students stopped the pack from following him. He took refuge in a nearby bathroom, trying to get his breath back. Jack and Jasmine were bullies, everyone knew that. But still, why didn’t anyone intervene? Ned and MJ tried at least. They’d all just sat there and done nothing. Did they think so little of him now? Did they not care? That’s not true, look at them, he heard MJ saying to him. People had been sitting, but they hadn’t looked like they approved. Many looked uncomfortable, even Flash, who’d started it in the first place. But then there was the debate teams topic of choice, whether he should be allowed at school at all. That didn’t bode well, especially if they were inviting non-teammates to contribute to it. Betty and Jason had looked uneasy announcing it, but that was only a very small comfort. He just had to make it through today and report back to May and Tony, just a few more hours.

 

Those few more hours seemed to last a lot longer than they usually did, but finally, the end of the day approached. He only had one more class to go: English with Ms Bell. He didn’t know what to think of Ms Bell, but that might have been because he didn’t particularly enjoy English class. Sure he liked reading as much as anyone else, but he felt the enjoyment of a story was removed if you constantly have to pick it apart. Case in point, the book they’d been reading, ‘Twelve Months of Space’ by M.R. Grey, had been a lot of fun, but there was only so much he could take of discussing the themes and author intent before he started to hate even opening the book at all. He took his seat, unfortunately in the very middle of the room. Even worse, Jack was sat right behind him. Ms Bell settled the class down and her gaze lingered on Peter. All of his teachers had done that, but there was something about her that put Peter on edge. This wasn’t going to be fun.

“Ok, let’s get started. I asked you last time to reread chapters 5-10 so that we’re all prepared for today.”

Her address was like any other lesson, but the way her eyes kept flicking back to Peter made his skin crawl.

“The author seemed to be making a point about secrets in general when he gave each of the characters a new name. Isn’t that right Peter?”

The sudden focus on him took him by surprise.

“What?”

“I said, in making a point that each of the characters had a new name, he was drawing attention to the secrecy the characters were acting under. Indeed, we can see the main character attempting to draw attention to himself by his refusal to use his new name.”

Peter did not like where this was going. He racked his brain for the chapters, hoping he could make some kind of argument against her.

“But, they were brainwashed. The book makes that clear” MJ tried interjecting but Ms Bell cut her off.

“The question was directed at Peter, Michelle, not you” she said, “well Peter?”

“She’s right. Each of the characters is made to forget their old name. The main character is the newest to the process so hasn’t had as much time to be made to forget. So it’s not attention seeking, it’s resistance” Peter said, hoping his voice wasn’t shaking so much.

“But even when he does forget, he still acts out. He still feels the need to be different, as though he is so much more special than the others. Why do you think he does that Peter?”

It was like an interrogation and Peter didn’t like it.

“I don’t know miss. Please ask someone else” he said politely.

“But I’m asking you Mr Parker.”

“And I’m saying I don’t know” Peter shot back, trying to keep his voice level.

Ms Bell shook her head slightly.

“Disappointing” she said, “does anyone else have any thoughts on this point?”

Even though MJ raised her hand, Ms Bell pointedly ignored her. After an uncomfortable amount of time, Jasmine Peers raised her hand. Ms Bell nodded for her to start.

“I think the main character was trying to have two identities. One normal like the rest of his crewmates, and another to make him special.”

“Just like Peter then” Ms Bell said.

Her tone made it sound like an offhand comment, but it stung Peter like a knife.

“Exactly. And it’s just like you said Ms Bell, he acts out for attention because he can’t stand that he’s just like everyone else.”

“Very good Ms Peers. I see you’ve been paying attention. It is clear from the main characters actions that all he wants to do is be special when compared to his shipmates, which only leads to disaster for them all in the end. Now Peter, why do you think he would continue on this course of action?” Ms Bell asked him.

“Please stop” he asked quietly, not looking up at the teacher.

“Stop what?” she said.

“Please leave me alone” he asked.

“I’m asking you questions since I am your teacher” she said.

“But you’re just picking on him” MJ said, piping up again.

“I’m discussing the book” Ms Bell said simply.

 “You’re completely misreading the book. These chapters deal with the main character slowly realising he’s becoming a different person as the brainwashing process takes hold. There’s so many more interesting things to talk about, like indoctrination. You’re just using it as an excuse to take shots at Peter.”

“Ok then Ms Jones, let’s talk about indoctrination in these chapters. Does anyone have anything to contribute?”

“Yeah, it’s like Peter getting used by the Avengers, the main character gets used by the army” Jasmine said, speaking over MJ.

It was only Jasmine and one of her other pack members, but it felt like fifty people, all drilling into him with their comments. His other classmates avoided looking at him, though from what he saw, they at least had the decency to look bad about the situation. Why don’t they stand up for him, he thought. Ms Bell certainly wasn’t helping. She seemed to be taking a perverse kind of glee, wrapping comments in the veneer of literary critique while still aiming them like a cannon at Peter.

“Ms Bell?” Jack said behind him.

This can’t be good, he thought. Jack didn’t seem like the kind of person to contribute to class.

“Peter stamped on my foot. I think he was using his super strength because it really hurts” he said.

What! How much more blatant can a lie get? Peter was sat in front of him, how could he have reached back to stamp on Jack’s foot. What’s more, Ms Bell was looking right at him.

“Peter, go to the Principal’s office right now and explain yourself” she said anyway, it almost sounded casual the way she said it.

“What? But I didn’t do anything” he said.

“That’s detention Mr Parker. Now go!” she said more forcefully.

“Why?” he asked.

The injustice was boiling inside him, threatening to spill over.

“There are rules, Mr Parker, rules that we all must follow. Principal Morita laid them out very clearly for you at the beginning of the day. You may have gotten used to trampling over rules with the Avengers, but here in the real world, there are consequences.”

“But there was no way I could have done anything. You were watching me the whole time!”

“I have given you instructions Peter. What did Morita tell you would happen if you didn’t follow a teacher’s instruction?”

“You’re being completely unfair. You’re punishing me for doing nothing” Peter said. 

“No, I’m punishing you for breaking rules. But I guess that’s what you’re used to now. What are rules to the monsters of the Avengers?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, the Avengers have rules. And they’re not monsters.”

Ms Bell laughed.

“You call the Accords rules? Ha, hardly. And they absolutely are monsters. The Hulk, the creepy robot, those freaky little witches they’ve got.”

“Excuse me!”

“Come on! Scarlet _Witch_. _Wiccan_. They’re not exactly being subtle about it. But if you want to go join the monsters, be my guest. The rest of us normal people will sleep a little bit safer at night knowing that you are nowhere near us.”

Silence. The whole class was in shock. Even Jack and Jasmine didn’t have a comment to make. Everyone looked between Peter and Ms Bell, waiting for something to break. Well this got out of hand very quickly, he heard Tony’s voice say. Peter stood. He couldn’t keep the anger from his voice as he spoke.

“How dare you! You don’t know what they’ve been through, every single one of them. You don’t know how they came to be what they are!”

“Yes, yes, Peter. We all know about your parents, but that doesn’t give you, or anyone else, the right to break the law” she said, attempting to hand wave away his comments.

That was it, the last straw. Peter jabbed a finger at her.

“How can you be so heartless?” he accused, before addressing the class as a whole, “how can you treat one of your classmates like this, one of your students? Peter’s done nothing wrong! Why are you acting like he’s a criminal!”

There was a beat and then Jack snorted.

“Parker’s so high and mighty, he refers to himself in the third person” he sneered.

Jasmine laughed, so did Ms Bell.

“Yes Jack. That would be hilarious if I was talking about myself” he said, turning to face Jack, his eyes burning.

The smile disappeared from Jack’s face as though it was burnt off. Ms Bell let out a snort.

“Oh really, then who are you talking about?” she asked.

“Peter.”

“But you’re Peter” Jasmine said with another laugh.

“No I’m not. Peter Parker hasn’t been here all day.”

There was no more laughter. He turned back to face Ms Bell. She kept her face as neutral as she could, but he was sure he saw a flicker of something like fear.

“Then who are you?”

“A freaky little witch!”

The spell lifted. His skin shimmered as his entire person was covered in glowing blue bubbles. When they burst, standing in the middle of the class was Billy, wearing his suit. Everybody jumped back. Many recognised him from the previous Friday, when he’d helped save them. Ms Bell shrank against the wall, realising that this was one of the people she’d directly insulted. Billy didn’t care for their fear.

“You’re all horrible people” he said to the class, knowing that MJ was smart enough to know he wasn’t talking about her, “the things you’ve said are disgusting.”

The silence was all encompassing. You could have heard a pin drop.

“Let me tell you something. Peter has had these powers for two years before you found out who he was. In that time, did he ever once flaunt them? Did he ever once use them to intimidate someone, or to get revenge on someone for hurting him,” he let his eyes linger on Jack and Jasmine and was very satisfied at the way Flash seemed to cower before he even looked at him, “or did he seem like a perfectly normal kid? Peter Parker is a good person, one of the best people I know. All he wants to do is help people, all he’s ever done is help people, and you lot. None of you cared about that. You either cared more about beating him down, or sucking up to him, or you didn’t care enough to stand up for him.”

He turned to address the teacher.

“I will be going to the Principal’s office, where I will explain to him how you, Ms Sonya Bell, would rather take the side of bullies than their victim.”

He left the class. As he did so, he saw MJ giving him a nod. That raised his spirits slightly, made him think that he did the right thing, because this day had been a challenge.

 

_“I think I have a plan that just might work, but you’ll have to trust me.”_

_“Ok, and you’re plan is?” Tony asked._

_“We can’t just send Peter in, so why don’t I go in instead?”_

_“That’s all well and good, except for the fact that you look nothing like Peter” Tony said._

_“I can make myself look like him. People won’t even know the difference. For all they know, it’ll be Peter at school. This way, we can all see how they react to him, but Peter doesn’t have to be in the firing line.”_

_“But what if things go wrong? What if they’re violent?” May asked._

_“I can take a hit.”_

_“Peter won’t appreciate you getting hurt.”_

_“No, I can see where he’s going with this. We pull him out if things go south and confront the Principal about it” Tony said, “kid, this just might work.”_

And had seemed like such a good idea. Pretend to be Peter, take the hits in his place, but Billy hadn’t expected it to hurt so much, especially when that teacher had brought him into this. He was not a freaky little witch! He didn’t bother knocking; he walked straight into Principal Morita’s office. He wasn’t alone in the room. Sat before the desk were Tony Stark and the real Peter Parker. On the desk was a holographic display, looping through footage of the day, specifically everything that had happened to Peter (Billy).

“That was dramatic” Tony said.

It might have been a joke if he hadn’t been glaring at Morita. There were no more seats so Billy stood behind Peter and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“What is this?” Morita said, glancing quickly between the three of them, looking sheepish.

“Think of it like a sting operation. We fitted our friend here with visual and audio recording equipment, and have now uncovered the depths of bullying and harassment in your school, aided and abetted by your staff” Tony said.

“This is not … this is most…” Morita spluttered.

“Now, the big question is this: what are you going to do about it?” Tony demanded.

Morita looked from Tony to Peter to Billy, back to Peter.

“You snuck an unauthorised person into this school. Do you know how many protocols that breaches?” Morita said, trying to sound intimidating, but Billy wasn’t buying it.

“So the bullying and harassment would have been acceptable then? The unfeasible rules applied to Mr Parker and only Mr Parker that gave him no freedom and no defence against any allegations of him breaking them are totally fine? The goading of his classmates to break the rules, the hostile environment fostered in the classroom resulting in an idiotic accusation that would have resulted in his expulsion because of the moronic rules you laid out, all of that doesn’t breach any protocols!” Tony raised his voice.

It wasn’t shouting but it certainly carried authority. Morita shrank beneath it.

“It’s clear to me, and I’m sure it’s also clear to Peter and our friend, that the one who needs protecting in this school is Peter. What does it say in your school policy: this is a safe and inclusive environment? Does Peter’s safety not matter? Does Peter’s inclusion mean nothing?”

Morita opened his mouth but no words came out.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to fire that teacher. You’re going to suspend those students, what were they called?”

“Jack and Jasmine Peers” Billy supplied.

“You are going to suspend Jack and Jasmine Peers. You are going to make it clear to your students AND your staff that this is not acceptable. If you do not do this, expect to be hearing from my lawyers” Tony said.

As one, Tony and Peter stood up. Billy got his first proper look at Peter since earlier that day. He was tense, eyes like lasers and his face unreadable. Together, they left the office. Billy wasn’t surprised when he heard Peter say later that he didn’t want to go back to school. Personally, he didn’t blame him at all. How could he, now that he’d lived through a tiny part of it? But Billy knew that this was not over. He didn’t relish the thought, but things were only going to get more complicated from here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to leave any feedback you might have. Good, bad, ugly, I would like to hear it.


	5. Harsh Lessons

There was no end to the fury of May Parker. Billy had been reluctant to tell her, but as soon as they’d gotten back to the tower, she had demanded a complete account of what had happened. Tony had tried placating her, if that was the right way to describe it, by showing her the footage he’d shown Morita. She watched it, her face knotting tighter and tighter as she did so.

“Tell me what happened” she demanded of Billy when she’d finished.

“But you’ve just watched it” he said, trying not to crack beneath her gaze.

He did break, and spent an excruciating hour being interrogated on everything that had happened at the school. Their plan had backfired slightly. May wanted to know who said what and to whom, who reacted in what way to the things going on. Billy tried his best, but he didn’t know the people at the school, only who Peter had told him about. May seemed to accept this, but with the way she insisted on making people dinner at the tower, nobody dared argue with her.

“I’m going to give him a piece of my mind!” she said as she slammed a pot on the stove.

“At least wait and see if he does anything about it” Tony said, throwing his hands up when she shot a glare at him, “but if he doesn’t, by all means go ahead. I’ll even come with you.”

Nothing more was said about the disastrous school day. Peter did eat, but he was giving off a strong aura of ‘don’t talk to me’ so everyone kept out of his way. After dinner was eaten and cleared away, most of the Avengers went off to do their own thing. Only Billy, Tony and the two Parkers were left in the lounge. Peter was tapping away on his phone. Billy hoped he was talking to Ned and MJ. He hadn’t had a chance to explain himself to them earlier. Ned hadn’t messaged him, so he hoped everything was fine.

“I don’t suppose you want to go to school tomorrow?” May asked lightly.

Peter shook his head.

“Didn’t think so.”

Billy exchanged a look with Tony. They’d agreed to the plan, but now Billy was having doubts. This was already a delicate situation, he knew that from the news, but was it the right thing for him to impersonate Peter? Had it helped, or would it only throw fuel onto the fire. Before he could get too far down that particular rabbit hole, his phone buzzed. It was Dr Strange, the one person he couldn’t just ignore. He went down the hall for some privacy before answering.

“Billy, where are you?” Strange asked as soon as he’d answered.

Typical Strange, all business.

“And hello to you” Billy replied,

“Hello. Where are you?” Strange said.

“I’m at the tower. Why?”

“You need to come back to the Sanctum.”

“Why? Is something wrong?”  Billy asked, suddenly worried.

That was just what he needed right now.

“The only thing wrong is how you’ve fallen behind in your studies.”

“Look, now really isn’t a good time. Things are a bit crazy right now.”

“Do I look like someone who doesn’t know how to Google? I know what’s going on.”

“Then you know I can’t just come back, not right now.”

“Yes you can. I know it’s a bad situation that Peter’s in, but you can’t let that get in the way of your life. Do you think Peter would want that?”

“He’s my friend!”

“I’m well aware.”

“That’s all I should need to say!”

Strange sighed.

“Tell me honestly: is this going to be sorted in the next few days?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Billy shot back.

“Tell me honestly” Strange repeated “is the issue of Peter’s identity going to be sorted in the next few days?”

Billy huffed and then considered the question, knowing full well that Strange wouldn’t stop asking until he answered it.

“No, probably not” he said.

“How about the next few weeks?”

“Still probably not.”

“Then the problem will still be there when you’re finished” Strange said.

Billy sighed. Strange was right, not that he wanted to admit it. He just didn’t want to leave his friend on his own.

“I just don’t want him to go through this alone” he said finally.

“I know, and I commend you for that. Believe me; I understand what it’s like to feel like you’ve lost everything” Strange said, his voice softening a bit.

“But you almost self-destructed when it happened to you” Billy said.

“And Peter is not me, which is only a good thing. He is in the best place he could possibly be, with a friend who will help see him through it, and when he gets through it, do you think he’ll appreciate that you put your life on hold for him?” Strange asked, not unkindly.

Damn Strange.

“No” he replied.

“Then come back to the Sanctum. We have work to do” Strange said.

Billy sighed, which Strange took as an affirmative so he hung up. Returning to the lounge, everyone was still where he’d left them, apart from Tony, who had shifted over to the table to work.

“I’ve got to go back to the Sanctum” he announced to the room.

Peter looked over at him, a very weak smile on his face that was obviously not forced at all.

“Ok” was all he said.

“Are you gonna be alright?” Billy asked him.

Peter nodded.

“Do you need a ride?” Tony asked.

“No thank you, I should be fine.”

May smiled and waved him goodbye. Peter was already buried in his phone again. Billy wanted to say so much to him but he didn’t have the words. Strange was right. He couldn’t let his own life stall because of this. Peter would hate him for it, and besides, if he stayed, he’d be spending all of his time trying to think of the right way to reassure his friend. So with a deep breath, ignoring any guilt he felt at leaving, he cast the spell, vanishing in a flash of blue light.

 

Peter watched Billy disappear, teleporting back to the Sanctum, and resumed browsing on his phone. Every now and again, a message from Ned or from MJ would come through. He tried replying to them, but he found he couldn’t keep going. What should he be saying to them? He wanted to reassure them, but they weren’t the ones in the bad place. He was. Why should he be the one telling people that everything will be ok? Why did he feel guilty whenever he had that thought? Facebook was trying to grab his attention but he’d switched notifications off ages ago. He couldn’t even open the app without being inundated with messages and requests. He didn’t care if they were words of comfort or more insults. Yet at the same time, he was desperate to know what people were saying. He needed to know what people thought about him because, for some reason, that had become so important to him. He’d never cared before, letting mean words wash over him was practically a skill at this point. Even as Spiderman, nothing the Daily Bugle wrote about him made a dent. He’d even laugh at the ridiculous spins the newspaper would put on stories. But now, Peter Parker cared immensely. It was like he was seeking some kind of perverse acceptance from the world, like if everyone else thought he, Spiderman, was a good thing, then maybe he was worth keeping around. But why should he care? It didn’t matter what people thought about Peter Parker because he was Spiderman. It didn’t matter what people thought about Spiderman because he was Peter Parker. It didn’t matter that both were the same person because they were separate, and only now that the wall between the two had been torn down did Peter realise just how separate he’d been keeping both sides of his life. He plugged in his headphones and listened to the news, hoping he could make sense of things in his head while he did so.

_Joining me live is Clarice McKenna, political correspondent for the Daily Bugle, as well as Tim Geoffrey, reporter for ANN. Thank you both for being here._

_Clarice: Thank you_

_Tim: It’s a pleasure, Craig._

_Craig: So there has been a lot of conversations around the issue of parental responsibility. Many people, in the aftermath of the Spiderman Incident, were left wondering where his parents were and why they let him do this. Now the discussion has shifted slightly, still about responsibility but now aimed at the Avengers and in particular, Tony Stark. Tim, why don’t we start with you? What’s your take on this?_

_Tim: I think there definitely is an issue of responsibility for the Avengers. We have to remember that we went for nearly two years where Tony Stark was one of the only Avengers and this was the time that we saw Spiderman’s involvement. If he’s a minor now then he was definitely a minor then._

_Craig: Clarice, what about you? You said last time that there was an issue of responsibility._

_Clarice: And I stand by that. However, I disagree with Tim that the Avengers bear as much blame is he thinks. You said two years that Spiderman was involved with the Avengers, but what always gets forgotten when this point is made is that Spiderman was active for at least six months before he had anything to do with Tony Stark, meaning he had these powers as a minor and was active as a minor._

_Tim: But does that excuse Mr Stark for not stepping in and preventing him from joining, because it’s not just Spiderman! We saw at Washington Bridge another hero who was identified from the Avengers database as Wiccan. He’s been seen with Spiderman a number of times, meaning they are likely age peers. So that’s two minors on the Avengers roster. It’s unbelievable!  
_

_Clarice: And Mr Stark released a statement over the weekend clarifying the Avengers position, in particular why they’re members. He said that those two only joined out of necessity, they needed all the help they could get to deal with the Thanos Incident. He also explained that not every Avenger chose to become the person they are now. Some of them, like Spiderman, like the Hulk, got their powers by accident. Doesn’t it make sense then that the Avengers get involved in cases like this?_

_Tim: It makes sense for them to get involved, yes, but not to make them members. We saw reports released after the Thanos Incident which showed that Vision was killed in Wakanda. Thankfully, he’s an android so they were able to fix him, but what if that had happened to either of these two, or to any other minors that join in the future? What if the next person that doesn’t come back from a mission is Spiderman?_

_Clarice: How is that question any different to if any of the adult Avengers don’t make it?_

_Tim: The difference is that the adults are able to make an informed choice. They are responsible for themselves. We don’t send sixteen year olds off to Afghanistan to serve in the army, why should the Avengers be any different?_

_Clarice: The Avengers are different because, like Mr Stark clarified, not all of them chose to become who they are. Also, like Mr Stark said, Spiderman and Wiccan were special cases. They’re not saying that just anyone can join. They’d probably agree with you that kids shouldn’t be allowed to make that choice, powers or not. The problem is, this issue is so muddied from so many different angles, we rapidly lose focus._

_Craig: So what do you think the focus should be? Last question._

_Clarice: I think the focus should be on what to do with enhanced individuals. We know they exist and we know they aren’t only confined to adults. We should be focussing on how to accommodate them, or not, within society._

_Craig: Do you agree with that Tim?_

_Tim: I agree that it’s a valid area of discussion. I disagree that it should be the only topic on the board._

_Craig: Thank you so much for joining me, both of you._

Well at least it wasn’t all about him anymore, though it still wasn’t all that good. The sun was only just setting, but Peter wanted to go to bed. As he stood up, Tony stood up as well.

“You might not see me for a few days kid” he said.

“Why not?” Peter asked.

“Steve and I are going to D.C. Apparently Ross wants to meet with us face to face” Tony said, making a face of disgust at the mention of Ross’s name.

Peter didn’t know how to respond. It must be something important if Tony AND Steve had to be there, and if Ross was involved then it couldn’t be anything good. Tony seemed to take his silence as a response and left. People kept doing that, treating him as if he’d spoken when he hadn’t. Peter didn’t mind, it meant he didn’t have to try and get his thoughts together, but at the same time he did mind. Did they not care what he had to say? No, that wasn’t it. They’d been trying to talk to him but he hadn’t been replying. It was only natural that they’d talk around his silence. God, he really was a mess. The cool dark of his room did nothing to unscramble his head. Without thinking, he crossed to his dresser and opened the dedicated drawer. There was his Spiderman suit, waiting ready to go. At least this hadn’t changed. Spiderman was always needed. He suited up, the material hugging his body like a strangely comforting embrace. Any thoughts of an early night were gone. He went to the balcony of his room and began climbing down the side of the building.

“Hello Peter” the suits AI, Karen said.

“Hey Karen, it’s been a while” Peter said.

“Indeed it has.”

When he was low enough, he leapt from the building and shot a web, swinging down the streets as he made his way back to Queens. This was his neighbourhood. It didn’t matter that everyone knew his name now, he was Spiderman.

 

The mugger didn’t even see him coming. He landed on the hood of the car and shot a web, snatching the knife from his hand.

“What the f...” the mugger said.

“I’m gonna stop you right there. I have a friend who doesn’t like that kind of talk” Peter said.

The mugger looked at him, taking in the red and the blue.

“Hey, you’re that kid from the news.”

No, I’m Spiderman! He shot another web, sealing the muggers mouth shut, and another sticking him to the wall.

“Nope. He’s not here right now. You’re stuck with me, and stuck to the wall.”

He turned to the would be victim, a slightly older man who hobbled to stay standing. Peter retrieved his crutch and handed it back to him.

“Th-Thank you Mr Parker” the man said.

Peter’s eyes narrowed. The suits eyes narrowed as well, judging by the slight whir of the lenses. Before the man could say anything more, Peter was off, swinging away and trying not to seethe. Normally, he would have loved to have a chat, to make sure the man was completely ok before leaving, and if he was completely honest, it buoyed his self-confidence when he heard people thank him. So why now did it make his skin crawl? That’s right, because it was Peter Parker they thanked, not Spiderman. It continued like that for the rest of the evening, and the next day, and the next day. The people he helped seemed to handle him with kid gloves, not knowing how best to react, especially those with kids of their own. Every single time they mentioned the other guy, he left without a word. Peter Parker had been taken from him, he’d lost that cosy quiet life with its normality and its regularity. All he had left was Spiderman, so Spiderman was who he would be. He might as well patrol during the day as well. School didn’t want him so it’s not as if he had anything better to do.

“You’ve been busy” someone said behind him.

Peter jumped, but it was only Billy.

“Well, you know, city to keep safe.”

Billy said nothing more, only joined him at the building edge, looking down on the streets below. This felt right. This felt normal. This felt like it did before.

“Incoming text from Ned Leeds” Karen informed him, “would you like to see it?”

Ned. Ned was still his friend, right? But he was from Peter’s life, not his. He couldn’t have that life, so he can’t have Ned. At least not now, not when he was busy.

“Not now Karen.”

The text icon disappeared from his display. Peter swung from the roof, following his now well-worn route. Billy was not far behind, flying after him. The evening was productive. Together they stopped a runaway car, and saved a guy who fell off some scaffolding. If only Ned and MJ would stop texting him, he might have been able to do more.

“Karen, disable notifications while I’m on patrol, unless it’s an emergency or something.”

That should do it. Now he could concentrate better. Sure enough, the next day he felt practically carefree as he swung through the city, even deciding to pick a less travelled route to go down to see where he was needed. He was sure his friends were trying to contact him, but he didn’t have time for them right now, he’d respond later. Billy joined him again. Every now and again, he’d pull out his phone, read whatever was on it before giving Peter a look.

“Are you ignoring Ned?” Billy eventually asked.

A grateful street vendor had given them a hotdog each and they were quietly eating them, sat on the roof of an apartment complex. The sun had set a while ago and night winds were drawing in.

“No I’m not” he said.

“It’s just he keeps messaging me saying you’re not answering his texts” Billy said.

“I do! It’s just I can’t do it while I’m on patrol.”

“You used to before” Billy said.

Before!

“Well I’m patrolling a lot more now so I need to focus!” Peter shot back sharply.

“Right” was all Billy said, the tone of scepticism incredibly obvious.

What did Billy know? He’s never had to balance two lives before, one normal and one extraordinary. He’s never had to feel one of them being ripped away from him. Stop it! Don’t think like that! Billy doesn’t know that feeling because he’s never had the chance to. He goes home to a Sanctum full of sorcerers and magic, not an apartment with a loved one. He never got to have the life that Peter lost. Guilt coursed through his veins, drowning out any anger he had been feeling, so much so he could barely meet his friends eye.

“It’s getting late Peter. We should probably call it a night” Billy said.

“It’s not that late” Peter said.

“The time is 11:34pm. It will take approximately 20 minutes to return to Avengers Tower” Karen supplied.

“Really?” he said, incredulously.

“I assume Karen just told you the time” Billy said.

Peter nodded, resigning himself for the journey back to the tower. Damn reporters, still swarming over the apartment building like flies! He hated it. He just wanted to spend the night in his room, his actual room, not the one at the tower. Maybe that would make him feel better. Billy accompanied him all the way back before vanishing back to the Sanctum. His room was undisturbed. The lights in the lounge were all off. Everyone must have gone to bed, or at least retreated to their rooms. Peter grabbed a quick drink before settling down for the night. He hadn’t seen May since the morning, but she’d left for work and he’d gone on patrol. Something else for him to be guilty about, just what he needed. May had always been there. She wanted him to be safe and happy, so he hoped she’d understand. He needed to be busy. He needed to be Spiderman.

 

“I don’t know how you can understand this stuff.”

Billy sat at the table in the lounge with various papers and books in front of him. He’d managed to convince Dr Strange to let him study at the tower for a little while. As nice as the Sanctum was, he needed a little space, and it would also let him keep a closer eye on Peter. It was the joy of homeschooling, it could be done anywhere, or so he told Strange. Strange wasn’t fooled. He knew exactly why Billy wanted to be here, but he relented all the same. So Billy had spent the last few days studying in the lounge of Avengers Tower, when he wasn’t training with Strange himself. The others had seemed amused to see him doing schoolwork, something so tremendously ordinary when most of them only associated him with magic. That was until they had a closer look at the books he had, not all of which were to do with school. Strange insisted he read the books of the Mystic Arts, to learn to be a sorcerer so he can harness his magic better. It had taken a while, he preferred learning by doing, but he’d gotten there. The hardest part was learning Sanskrit so he could even read them at all. Tony had wandered over as he was packing away his things and flicked through one of the books of the Mystic Arts, frowning at the writing that must look like chicken scratch to someone who couldn’t read it.

“With lots of practise and patience” Billy said.

He pulled the book from Tony’s hand and stuffed it into his bag. It reminded him of Peter complaining about losing yet another backpack. He smiled at the thought.

“Anyway, are you hanging around here?” Tony asked him.

Billy raised an eyebrow at him. Tony didn’t usually talk to him of his own volition. It was usually only in a group that they exchanged words. To be fair to Tony, their relationship had started with Billy stealing the spider suit from him after he took it from Peter. Not the best way to begin in all honesty. Titan had definitely helped ease that particular strain, though the pair were wont to butt heads.

“Yes, why?” Billy said, trying not to sound too suspicious.

“I need to talk to Peter, but I can’t stick around for him” Tony said.

“Is this about Ross?” Billy asked.

Tony and Steve had come back from D.C. yesterday and neither man looked happy. They’d shut themselves in Tony’s office for the rest of that day, and all of this day, discussing something. They’d all guessed it wasn’t good news.

“Secretary Ross is of the opinion that enhanced individuals, like our good friend Mr Parker, should be registered and monitored like criminals in case they become a threat.”

“That sounds terrible” Billy said.

“You’re with Cap and I on that. It wouldn’t be too much of a problem, I mean, Ross has been saying stuff like that ever since the Accords were re-ratified, but now he’s drafted a bill that would make it a legal reality” Tony said.

“Wait, but isn’t that just what the original Accords did? Treated people like criminals even if they’d done nothing wrong? Isn’t that what caused all the problems between you and Steve in the first place?”

Tony’s face tensed at the mention of that particular episode, but he regained composure quickly.

“Which is why Cap and I did everything we could to get him to back down from it. It wouldn’t just be Peter that the bill would target. It’s Wanda, Strange, you, I guess even Vision. Banner would be an instant threat according to it.”

He couldn’t do that! Could he? Billy wasn’t sure. Secretary Ross seemed to be able to get away with a whole lot that most others wouldn’t. If Thanos hadn’t attacked, Billy could see no reason why the Accords would ever have been amended.

“We need to talk to Peter about it, because Ross kept bringing him up, seemed to be saying that if we got Peter to sign the Accords, he would change his mind. We said no. Cap wanted to know how Ross would define a threat. Ross didn’t answer so we slammed the door in his face.”

“But you were in his office, surely?”

“Well” Tony said, “there was a door slammed and I’m sure his face was somewhere in the area. Never mind that. Can you tell Peter we need to see him?”

“Yeah, sure” Billy said.

Tony took that answer and swiftly left the room. Billy curled up on the sofa, taking out the book of the Mystic Arts. He had no idea when Peter would get back from patrol. It seemed to be later and later each day. Billy had arrived early this morning to try and catch Peter and talk to him, but he had already left. It shouldn’t be too long, he told himself, and in the meantime, he can read about mystic energy flows. It was slow going. He could understand the Sanskrit, but it still took him some time to read, though he was getting better, even Strange said so. The hours passed by, May returned from work and the Avengers slowly descended to the lounge to while away the time until dinner. Sam had managed to wrestle May away from the kitchen, insisting that she didn’t have to cook for them every evening just because she was a guest. The smells of spices drifted over and Billy kept his eyes out for Peter. They all sat down for dinner and there was still no sign of him. Sam set him aside a plate, joking on saying he was a typical teenager staying out late. Billy had to resist the urge not to message him. It wouldn’t do any good. If Billy wasn’t there on patrol with Peter, he ignored him. Sure, he claimed he was busy, but Billy knew there were stretches where he wouldn’t be doing anything. The perfect time to answer messages and put everyone’s mind at ease. Dinner was over and slowly over the course of the evening the Avengers drifted back to their own spaces.

“It’s getting late. Are you not expected back soon?” May asked.

The sun had set hours ago, but Billy hadn’t left, though he had made good headway into the book.

“I need to pass on a message to Peter. Besides, he should be back by now” Billy said.

May hummed, looking anxiously out of the window and seeing only the bright lights of the city illuminating the inky blackness.

“You wouldn’t see him anyway. He just goes straight into his room. I’ve tried staying up for him before” May said, when he gave her a look.

They sat in silence for a brief moment, before Billy asked the question he’d wanted to ask.

“Has he left the tower at all, I mean, without the suit on?”

May thought for a moment.

“I think when he went in to see the Principal, that day you stood in for him, I think that was the last time” she said.

What! So he was shutting himself off, and only going out as Spiderman. A knot of worry grew in Billy’s stomach.

“I thought if I gave him some space, let him figure things out, keep being Spiderman if he wants, then things might get better. But they’re not, are they?” May asked him.

Billy sighed.

“No, they’re not.”

“I’m going to call him” May said.

Billy waited as the phone dialled. It kept going and going, but nothing. May frowned and dialled again. There was more waiting and again no answer. That wasn’t right. There was no way that Peter would ignore May, busy or not. She rang again but there was no change.

“What the hell” she said.

“He’s been ignoring Ned as well.”

“No, that’s not Peter” May said, shaking her head.

Billy agreed. Spending more and more time in the spider suit, ignoring messages from the people he cares about, and now even ignoring May. This wasn’t good, and it needed to stop.

 

Surely after making this climb so many times he’d be used to it by now, but no, it was still a pain. Why did the tower have to be so tall? Peter looked up, the suit display illuminating his path. The smooth panels he was gripping shimmered in their reflections of the lights around them. It was quite nice to watch. He reached his window and gripped the edge. It didn’t budge. What? It should be open. Had it blown shut in the wind? It was quite windy, but it should still be unlocked. Why wasn’t it opening?

“Karen?” he asked, trying not to sound like a petulant child.

“The window appears to be locked” the AI said, entirely unhelpfully.

“I can see that, but why?”

“I do not know Peter. I am detecting that a window in the lounge is open. I suggest that as an alternative entrance to the tower.”

Peter shuffled around the smooth metal, finding the correct window. Surely no-one went into his room and locked his window. They knew he was out and that that was how he got back in! This window was slightly smaller than his usual entrance so it was a bit more of a squeeze. He hadn’t noticed the soft lamps that were on, nor the two people sat on the couch waiting for him.

“Peter” one of them said softly.

He jumped. May and Billy were watching him, looking grim.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” he said, trying not to feel like this was an intervention.

“Peter, we’re worried” Billy said bluntly.

“About what?” he asked.

“You. You’re barely here. You go out earlier and earlier and come back later and later. You spend more time in that suit than out of it” Billy said.

“We know things are difficult at the moment, and I totally get you throwing yourself into being Spiderman, but this isn’t good for you” May said.

“Look, guys, I know I’ve been out late a few times, but I just needed something to feel normal. For me, this is normal” he said.

They needed to understand. He needed this.

“You know what isn’t normal Peter, you ignoring us” Billy said, “we try and contact you and you don’t answer.”

“I’m just b…” Peter said.

“Busy, I know, you’ve said. I could buy that excuse to shut everyone else out, but May? You’d never have done that before, no matter how busy you were.”

“Well you know what else never happened before, people on the street calling me by name” Peter said.

He could feel his temper rising. Why didn’t they get it?

“Things are different now. We understand that” Billy said.

Oh, they understand, do they!

“No you don’t!” he near yelled, “this is all I have left. The only thing that is even remotely the same as before, but even then it’s different, so excuse me if I want to do something that still makes sense!”

“That’s not what you’re doing Peter. You’re spiralling” Billy said. 

“Oh like you would know” Peter said harshly.

There was another pang of guilt, but Peter didn’t regret it. He didn’t. Not at all.

“I do actually” Billy said, unreasonably calmly.

How can he be so level right now? Doesn’t he know what he’s doing? He must have made some kind of disbelieving noise because Billy kept going.

“When Strange lost his hands, he tried every medical procedure he could think of to get them back. The procedures got more and more experimental, they were practically just butchering his hands more. When I lost Jamie, I had nothing left. Nobody loved me, nobody cared, so I ran away and lived on the streets for two years. I was a child.”

His voice was rising now, growing more and more intense as he spoke.

“Were either of those decisions wise? No, they were stupid, idiotic, but we did them because it meant we didn’t have to consider the alternatives, we didn’t have to face the reality of our situations, that maybe our lives could have gotten better if we only stuck it out a bit longer.”

“And what does that have to do with anything?”

“You don’t want to accept the fact that everyone knows you’re Spiderman” Billy said, levelling his voice again.

May looked between the pair of them.

“Honey, we just want you to take some time to sort things out and we don’t think you can do that if you spend every waking moment in that suit. Maybe a few days without it would be a good idea” she said delicately but it did nothing to calm Peter down.

“I tried that May, I really did but I can’t. I can’t go to school because they think I’m dangerous! I can’t go home because reporters won’t leave it alone! I can’t even walk down the street!”

“You wouldn’t know since you’ve not left this tower without the suit” Billy said.

His calmness in this situation was getting on his nerves. How dare he, how dare they think that he hadn’t been trying to figure this out?

“WHAT DOES IT MATTER!” he was shouting now, “you’ve seen the news. Every single story treats me like a kid who doesn’t know better. How can I go on with that? Spiderman is all I have left!”

“No it’s not!” Billy shot back, still strangely calm.

It was like he was steeling himself for something. What, did he think Peter was going to hit him? He really didn’t know him at all if he thought that.

“You need to get on top of this and you can’t do it as Spiderman. It has to be done as Peter Parker” Billy said.

And the thought that had been building inside him finally burst out of him.

“I DON’T WANT TO BE PETER PARKER ANYMORE!”

“Then you can’t be Spiderman!” Billy shot back, again staying infuriatingly calm, “remember I didn’t give you your suit back because you needed to realise that Spiderman came from who you are, and that person is Peter Parker, the kid who wouldnt hesitate to throw himself into a burning building if it meant he could save people’s lives.”

“So what are you gonna do? Take the suit away?”

“If I have to.”

The reply was so simple but it ran through Peter like a knife. He almost didn’t know what to say. Almost.

“Some friend you turned out to be” he said as he turned on his heel, fully intending to walk away.

“Don’t make me do it Peter!”

He ignored him. A chill ran down his spine. Danger. His skin tingled and he saw the suit glow with small blue bubbles. They burst as rapidly as they’d appeared and he was left standing in normal clothes, his suit nowhere to be seen. He didn’t even have his web shooters. Peter turned back to face Billy, completely disgusted. Billy stood there, finally reacting to the situation. His face was strained as though he was trying desperately to remain calm. Was this what he was preparing himself for? Was he ever not going to steal his suit right off his back?

“Give it back.”

“No.”

“I said give it back!” he yelled.

He didn’t remember crossing the room, nor grabbing Billy by the collar.

“Peter!” he heard May say but he ignored her, barely even heard her.

“Give it back now!”

“I’m not going to give it back Peter” Billy said.

There were finally emotions in his voice. He sounded hurt. Good, he deserved it.

“You’re just like Tony. I try to do the right thing and you stamp me down again!”

“Tony took your suit because you messed up. I didn’t give your suit back until you found out how to be Spiderman without it. Now you need to find out how to be Peter Parker!”

How could he? Didn’t he know that Peter needed it? He needed to be Spiderman! What was he without it? He was just the kid from Queens who went to school and built Lego and couldn’t talk in front of girls he was crushing on but now? Now he wasn’t even that, he didn’t know what he was. He was nothing. He was no-one who everybody knew his name.

“Peter don’t” May said more forcefully.

He’d raised his fist. When did he do that? Billy didn’t raise his own to defend himself. He didn’t cast any spells or otherwise do anything to protect himself from Peter. Instead he stood there, ready to take it. Were those tears forming in his eyes?

“You hit me and show us all how far you’ve sunk or you don’t and show us all that Peter is still in there, either way you prove me right. You need this” he said.

Peter looked around. When had Clint and Natasha arrived? Probably wondered what the noise was. He didn’t care either way. He hated it but he couldn’t hit Billy. He felt tears of his own forming and didn’t want to give Billy the satisfaction. He didn’t apologise for bowling past Clint, didn’t care who he disturbed when he slammed his door. He just wanted to vent, to scream. He wanted to swing away and keep swinging, but he couldn’t, because Billy had taken his web shooters. The dedicated drawer lay empty. He taken it all. Why did you act like that Peter? This isn’t like you! But things are different now. You could have handled that better. He took my suit! The thoughts rattled around his brain, driving him to bury himself under the covers.

_You don’t want to accept the fact that everyone knows you’re Spiderman._

_You need to find out how to be Peter Parker._

Why did those words sting so much? Because it was a friend betraying him. No, that can’t be right. Maybe it's true. Maybe it's not. Peter hated it so much, everything about this. He hated not knowing. Who was he now if not Peter Parker?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a longer chapter so it took more time to write. I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Please feel free to leave any feedback. I greatly appreciate it.


	6. Outside Journey

News of Peter and Billy’s argument spread throughout the tower like wildfire. It had disturbed many of the Avengers, who had only ever thought of the pair as good friends. Billy was thankful that this wasn’t like the high school; the Avengers didn’t mutter behind his back, though he was sure there was discussion about it. May had been sympathetic to him. She knew what he was trying to do. Peter had shut himself away, going out only as Spiderman. He needed to make sense of things without that huge distraction, so Billy took the suit hoping he would do what he did the last time: bounce back when he was ready to, when he needed to. It had been five days. Peter still hadn’t left the tower. Billy only saw him those few times they were in the lounge together. He couldn’t help but shrink away when he saw the looks he got from Peter. He was still angry, but of course he would be. This was always what was going to happen. He’d known that going in, he’d made his choice and was adamant he was going to stick to it, but that didn’t stop Billy from feeling guilty enough that he couldn’t be in the same room as his friend, or at least he hoped he was still his friend. He had taken to wandering the corridors of the tower so he could avoid the dirty looks and near painful atmosphere between the two of them. He hated it. Peter had been his friend, one of very few that he had. Sure he got on well with the sorcerers, but besides Strange and Wong, he had the impression that the others didn’t really understand why he was there. He didn’t know how he would react if he lost his friendship with Peter. No, don’t think like that, this was just a minor hiccup, a road bump in their relationship. Nothing to worry about, right? Billy hoped so. He rounded a corner and very nearly walked into someone.

“Watch where you’re going” they said rather sharply.

Billy apologised, realising he’d nearly walked right into Tony Stark. Tony gave him an appraising look, scanning him like he was one of his machines.

“You ok? I’m pretty sure Peter’s in the lounge if you want to talk to him” Tony said.

“Peter doesn’t want to talk to me” Billy said in an undertone.

It was true. May had tried bridging that gap but Peter pointedly ignored her attempts.

“Lovers quarrel?” Tony asked.

“What? No!”

“Argument with your old man?”

“He’s not my father” Billy said.

“Really? Because I’ve got five days of video recordings that beg to differ” Tony joked.

Billy felt his cheeks burn.

“I’m messing with you, but there is something going on between you” Tony said.

“Like you don’t already know” Billy said, trying to keep his voice level.

It was a struggle, especially when Tony was giving him nothing but a look that seemed somewhere between arrogance and ‘I’m expecting you to keep talking but won’t just say that because I’m Tony Stark’. Billy sighed and relented.

“I took his suit.”

“Welcome to the club” Tony said, “and let me guess, it’s tearing you up inside because now Peter’s angry with you.”

Billy nodded.

“He wasn’t angry with you when you took his suit before” Billy said, “he was frustrated, yes, but not angry.”

“You shouldn’t worry about it. Peter isn’t the kind of person to be angry for long” Tony said.

“He also isn’t the kind of person to blatantly ignore his friends and family.”

“True, but this is a big thing for him” Tony mused.

“Look, out with it. You followed me back to my lab so there must be something you want to ask me, so spit it out” Tony said.

Billy was indeed in Tony’s lab. When had that happened? Tony wasn’t being unkind but his voice was full of his almost patented straight-to-business tone. Billy sighed again, because there was something he needed to ask.

“Did you feel guilty about it, taking his suit the first time?”

“No” Tony answered almost immediately.

Billy was slightly taken aback by the bluntness of the statement.

“Do I feel guilty about it now, knowing what Peter then had to go through without it? Absolutely, but in that moment after the ferry fiasco did I feel guilty? Not at all.”

Billy looked down at his feet.

“Do you feel guilty?” Tony asked him.

Billy nodded.

“Then you’re already better than me.”

Billy raised an eyebrow at him, confused.

“If there’s one thing that I’ve learned since that cave in Afghanistan is that you need to be constantly looking at what you’re doing to make sure it’s right. You need to actually give it some real thought and real consideration which, believe me, is hard to do. It’s the people who are dead certain that they’re right who are the ones to watch out for. They could end up like Steve Rogers, saving those men from a HYDRA base against his superior’s orders, or they could end up like Thanos, wiping out half of the universe and calling it mercy.”

They both shuddered slightly remembering that time.

“I’m no expert on good decision making, or processing emotions, but I do know that Peter is a lot better at it than me,” Tony said, “give him some time and some space, he’ll come around.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Billy asked.

Tony threw his hands up.   
“I got nothing. Sorry.”

It was enough, Billy thought as he left Tony’s lab. He’d made his play, he’d given it thought and he would continue to dwell on it, but for now at least, he had to stay the course and see where it led.

 

Why was it so hard? It wasn’t much, he was just going to Ned’s house, like he’d done countless times before. Since he was going from the tower, it was even closer, so why was it still such a problem? Peter took a deep breath in front of the elevator before heading back to his room. He’d send Ned a message, apologising for not being able to come. Hopefully Ned would understand. But why couldn’t he do it? He’d been right there, the elevator doors had opened, beckoning him forward but he hadn’t been able to move. When the doors had closed, a strange mix of relief and frustration had flowed through him. Relief that the choice to leave the tower had been made without him, and frustration that he hadn’t been able to make the decision. God, what was he doing? Why was he being so cowardly about this? Because that’s what Spiderman was for, he thought but then immediately squashed that thought. Spiderman was a way for him to get out of the tower to stave off the boredom from not having school. He’d been growing antsy since the suit had been taken. He needed to get out from these four walls and have some fresh air again but every single time ended the same way, with him stood in front of the elevator and unable to take the step to leave. Before, Peter Parker, not Spiderman, had no problems going outside, he did it all the time, visiting Ned or getting a sandwich from Mr Delmar or any other bits and pieces his aunt asked him to do. So why was it so difficult now? Because you need Spiderman to be brave. No! He would not give Billy the satisfaction of being right. Billy stole his suit from him. He wasn’t his friend anymore! Despite that though, Peter knew that he had just lied to himself three times. He couldn’t stay angry at people, even people like Flash. Billy had ‘stolen’ the suit in much the same way that he had ‘stolen’ it before: to make a point. And the longer Peter had stood in front of the now closed elevator, he started to feel like Billy was right. Why else could he not bring himself to do it? The frustration gave way to shame as he went back to his room. Had he always been this pathetic? Flash would say yes, but he would have always said no before. Maybe he was now. Those thoughts swirled uncomfortably in his head when he was distracted by a knock on his door.

“Knock knock” the person said.

It was Wanda, smiling at him like all was right with the world.

“Wanda, I … I thought you were staying at the compound” Peter spluttered.

“I am, but Steve needed to talk about Ross’s bill so I thought I’d drop by” she said.

Oh yeah, Ross’s bill. He’d been catching up on the news and heard about it. Just what he needed right now.

“Don’t worry, the Avengers are all on the same page this time” she reassured him, as if she’d read his mind.

She probably had, he thought.

“I was wondering, Steve told me about this great little diner just a few blocks from here that does the best sandwiches. Fancy coming with me?” she asked.

Sandwiches sound good, though they wouldn’t beat Mr Delmar. But there was that feeling again, like ice freezing his brain when he wanted to leave.

“Thanks, but I … I um.”

How did he tell her no while still being polite? Could he tell her that he didn’t want to? That was a huge lie, he did want to, and she was telepathic, she’d know it was a lie.

“Come on, you could use a change of scenery” she said as she took him by the arm and led him back to the elevator.

“Wanda, what are you doing?” he said as the doors opened.

“Taking you to the diner” she said easily.

She practically pushed him into the elevator and his heart picked up. The doors were closing. He needed to get out of here! He turned but Wanda’s hand was on his shoulder, a comforting weight that held him there until they were shut and the elevator was moving down. He tried calming down, but all that accomplished was making him breathe heavily.

“Peter, we’re going down to the private entrance for the Avengers” Wanda said, exuding confidence, “and then we are going to walk down the street and we’ll both be fine.”

“But what if people recognise me? What if people know who I am?” he asked, blurting out his worries.

“They won’t” she said.

“But you don’t know that” Peter said, hoping he wasn’t being insulting.

The elevator was nearing the ground and his heart was still pounding.

“They won’t, because I’m going to show you a few things.”

There was a ping and the door opened to a small parking lot where the Avengers personal vehicles were kept. There weren’t many; Steve’s bike and Sam’s car were usually the only permanent residents. Wanda practically pulled Peter across the space to door. As they approached, he heard a robotic buzz and the door unlocked. Wanda reached out but before she could pull the handle, Peter stopped her.

“I don’t think I can do this” he said.

He wanted to run and hide. He wanted to climb to the very top of this tower and never come down. He wanted that, but he also wanted this. He wanted to leave and go home, back to his own apartment with May. He wanted to go to school with Ned and be normal. He just wanted to go for a walk, was that too much to ask? Wanda paused with a warm smile.

“I know you can Peter” she said, giving his arm a squeeze, “I’ll be right beside you the whole way, talking you through it.”

He took several deep breaths, steeling himself as much as he could. Come on Spiderman, no, come on Peter! He nodded and she opened the door, letting the sunlight stream into the parking lot. With another breath of resolution, Peter stepped out.

 

This was a mistake. What was he thinking? They’re all looking at me, they all know. They’d barely made it onto the main street when Peter longed to go back inside where it was safe. Wanda had a light grip on his arm and led him away from the tower. How was she so calm right now? She kept her eyes ahead while he couldn’t help but dart around, checking for danger always.

“Generally, people only notice what stands out, since most of the time they have their own issues and problems they’re dealing with. If you don’t draw their attention, most people won’t even give a first glance, let alone a second” she said under her breath, but he could still hear her.

“So you’re saying I need to blend in?” he asked.

Wanda nodded. How was he supposed to do that, he thought. She answered as though she read his mind, though it was probably just her continuing what she was saying.

“See that light way down at the end of the street?”

Peter nodded.

“Focus on that. Walk like you have a destination and you’ll look just like anyone else with somewhere to be, rather than someone looking all around with something to hide” she said.

That made sense, Peter thought. He tried to make his steps more regular, at least until he was walking without Wanda having to drag him. She smiled at that.

“Don’t give people a reason to look” she said “they’ll only notice if you make yourself noticeable.”

They rounded a corner and he saw the diner. Focus ahead. Walk with a purpose. We’re going to the diner and it will be fine. Peter repeated it to himself like a mantra. They arrived and Peter spared a glance as Wanda pushed open the door. Nobody was following them, nobody was sneaking glances at them. Everyone was going about their daily business without sparing him a thought. They found a table by the window and browsed the menu. The sandwiches did sound nice but Peter found himself without an appetite. The walk, as short as it had been, had nonetheless been draining. He didn’t want to order nothing so he got a glass of the homemade lemonade while Wanda ordered a coffee. They sat across from each other, drinking their drinks. Wanda kept shooting a smirk at him every so often.

“What?” he said the fifth time she did this.

“Just silently gloating” she said, as though that explained everything.

“You handled yourself well. I thought for a moment you’d resist me properly and you’d be stuck in the elevator.”

Peter took a deep swig and thought for a moment. He had wanted to fight her, to pull, to push, to get away from her and back to safety, but he’d also wanted to go with her, away from the tower and out into the world again. Given that conflict, he’d been easy to pull along. Once again, relief and frustration. Relief that he didn’t have to make the choice and frustration that he hadn’t made the choice himself.

“Where’d you learn that stuff anyway?”

“Natasha” Wanda said, “after Germany, she made sure that we could all blend in and disappear.”

“So you’re all, like, spies now” he said.

“I’m sure she’d teach you too if you asked her” Wanda suggested.

“No no no, I don’t think so” he said, though he couldn’t help but imagine himself as James Bond.

Peter Parker, international super spy.

“I’m happy either way” Wanda said.

Peter raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?” he asked her.

“I’m happy that you’re out of the tower.”

Of course, what else? The bitter thought came up completely unwillingly and Peter felt a stab of guilt. Of course the others would be worried about him not leaving the tower. They hadn’t said anything because of everything else, but they must have talked amongst themselves. Had Wanda really been here to talk to Steve, or had they asked her to come and get him out?

“What else have you guys been talking about?” he asked, disgusted at how petulant he sounded.

Wanda let his tone wash over her.

“Mostly how you’re coping. Vision and I were actually a bit surprised you hadn’t come out to the compound to get away from it all” she said.

Peter had to admit that the thought hadn’t even occurred to him once, though given how he was now, he didn’t know why it hadn’t.

“Steve mentioned what happened with Billy and how you hadn’t left the tower since then, so I thought I would at least try something” she said, waiting to see his reaction.

“He stole my suit” he said simply.

“Yes he did.”

“And you think he was right.”

“It doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is do you think he was right?” Wanda asked.

“I don’t know” Peter said after he struggled to put his thoughts into words.

They let the silence wash over them, drinking their drinks in peace.

“After the incident in Nigeria, I was so ashamed of myself. I couldn’t stop watching the news, couldn’t help but listen to what they had to say about me. Then Germany happened and I thought that this was maybe what I deserved, but it wasn’t. If I hadn’t had people there to support me then I probably would have turned out a lot differently, don’t you think?”

“Yeah but you’re different. You’re…”

“I’m what, Peter?”

“You’re … you’re better than me. You’re strong, you’re compassionate, you try to do what’s right even if people hate you for it, even in …”

He left the rest unsaid. He remembered the news coverage of what happened in Lagos. Even then, he’d thought it was unfair how they were portraying Wanda. If she hadn’t thrown that crazy terrorist into the air, countless people would have died on the ground. If the Avengers hadn’t intervened to stop him, then the terrorists would have gotten their hands on a biological weapon.

“That may be, but I could say the same thing about you” she said.

“I’m not like you” he said.

“You are. More than you know” she said.

 

The elevator ride back up the tower was a lot easier than it had been going down. Peter felt like he was slightly floating, buoyed up by the thoughts of the achievement. He’d gone outside. Take that Billy; he could do things without Spiderman. His good mood was infectious. Soon everyone in the tower was happy alongside him. Peter could only liken it to the first time he used his web shooters to swing. The first time had been absolutely terrifying. He had shot the web to the building across from him and stood on the edge, waiting to jump and swing. It had taken him close to an hour and thankfully, nobody had mistaken him for someone genuinely trying to jump. After that, he’d had the itch to do it again, and again, and then again. Now swinging was second nature, as he and his senses learned to work together so that it wasn’t work at all and was as easy as walking. That was how he felt now about the tower. He wanted to go out again, and further. The next day, Wanda agreed to go out for another walk with him. Let’s take it slow, she’d suggested, and Peter was wont to agree with her when they actually left the tower in a very similar manner to the previous day. They revisited the diner and Peter didn’t feel nearly as drained. He actually got to try a sandwich, as close he could get to Mr Delmar’s. It was good, though he’d have to take Wanda to Mr Delmar’s so she can know what a proper sandwich tastes like. The next day, Natasha had some errands to run. Peter thought it weird that a spy could have something as mundane as errands, but she said it helped her feel better to do everyday things, like running down to the store to get the things they were missing. He asked if he could go with her, which she agreed to. He could see where Wanda had learned it from. Natasha made blending in look easy, and he felt his anxiety lessen somewhat when he was with her, even if it was only to the local store. The day after, he was determined that Wanda would have the best sandwich in Queens, but when they stood on the station platform that would take them there, he couldn’t manage it. He’d realised that most people knew his name, not his face, but these people, back at home, they knew both. The train was just pulling in to the station when he felt his heart racing. He needed to get out of there. Wanda was happy to oblige him.

“Don’t worry, take your time” she’d said.

That night was spent building himself back up, hearing encouraging words from the other Avengers who were thrilled to see him coming back to himself, and discussing with May what would happen if people recognised him.

“The people of Queens know more than most the good you’ve done. I think they’ll surprise you” she said.

He hoped so as he dragged himself out of bed, absolutely determined that today he would go back to Queens. Wanda would be with him, and they’d only be going to Mr Delmar’s. It wasn’t like he was showing her the sights or anything. They made it to the train station and Peter felt the same old sensation of his brain being frozen on the ‘run away’ setting. Wanda placed a comforting arm on his shoulder and he made himself relax. Focus ahead. Walk with purpose. We’re going to Mr Delmar’s to get a sandwich, he’ll probably wonder where I’ve been and maybe hit on my aunt, but that’s fine. Everything will be fine. He repeated his little mantra in his head as the train arrived, and as they took their seats, and as it trundled forward. Before he knew it, they were back in Queens, surrounded by the familiar streets of home. It made him feel warm and secure.

“So where is this deli you wouldn’t shut up about?” Wanda asked.

He led the way. He found it harder to not keep glancing around now that he was on his home ground, but every time he did so Wanda pulled him back into the conversation. That was a normal thing, Peter thought, two friends walking down the street talking about food, nothing for people to be intrigued by. The deli was mostly empty as the entered. Mr Delmar looked up at the bell and Peter felt his cheeks flush at the huge smile he was given.

“Peter, it’s good to see you again. It’s been a while” he said warmly.

“Yeah it has” Peter replied, his apprehension easing somewhat.

They ordered their sandwiches and Peter had to practically force the money into Mr Delmar’s hands.

“No, no, it’s on the house. Consider a gift for saving my life” he said.

Peter didn’t want that so he left the money on the counter and dragged Wanda from the shop, calling out goodbyes as he left, before Mr Delmar could object.

“He seemed nice” Wanda said as they tucked into the food.

“At least he wasn’t hitting on May” Peter said.

Wanda chewed thoughtfully, then nodded appreciatively, gesturing to the sandwich in her hands.

“This is actually really good” she said.

“I know right.”

As they journeyed back to the tower, Peter felt his apprehension draining from him. Why did he think he couldn’t do this? Because he couldn’t just a few days ago, that’s why. Well it didn’t matter now. He’d proved Billy wrong. He didn’t need the suit to brave. However, as he thought that, he felt a small trickle of guilt. Maybe Billy had been right all along. He never would have done this if he had been Spiderman, and Spiderman hadn’t helped ease his anxiety about having his identity revealed. He should apologise, he knew that, and Billy would give him the suit back. Then who knows, he would make it work, this new strange life he found himself in.

 

_I know you’re probably still sorting things out, but do you want to come over to my place tonight? I’ve got a new game I want to try with you and my mom’s ordering takeout._

Ned’s message sent Peter’s brain reeling. He didn’t live that far away from the tower, it would just be like going to the diner with Wanda, but this time he would be on his own. Pull yourself together, he thought. He’d been working all week to try and be more comfortable with going outside, and the next logical step would be to go out on his own. Even though he had been getting better, everyone in the tower said so, May was so happy with him she made him his favourite dinner, his brain felt frozen. He’d be out there on his own. He took a deep breath and called the elevator. May had said he could go if he was feeling up for it. If he was honest, he probably wasn’t up for it, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. And if he found that it was too much, like Wanda had said, he could take it slower. The thought of having that option still available, that he could turn around and walk away, was strangely comforting, so much so he didn’t hesitate when the elevator doors opened. There weren’t so many people on the streets now that night was drawing in, bathing everything in a soft orange light that snaked its way through the buildings. Focus ahead. Walk with purpose. He was going to Ned’s house to play video games, and everything would be fine. He turned a corner to a more residential street. The streets were even quieter here, but Peter felt at ease. He made this walk to Ned’s before, many times. This was normal. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. Danger. Of all the times he’d been going outside lately, this was the first time his senses had gone of like this. It stopped him in his tracks but before he could even think about trying to find the source of the reaction, he felt a tiny prick in his neck. He reacted instantly, having barely felt the pain before he was wrenching at his neck to remove it. It was a tiny dart. He could still see purple liquid in the syringe so only some of it, whatever it was, was in his system. His vision clouded slightly, the colors swimming, bleeding into their surroundings. If he’d gotten the entire dose, this would probably feel a lot worse, he thought, as he felt himself swaying. He felt another chill and blindly ducked to the side, just about hearing the wiz of another dart as it sailed past him. Now he saw where it came from. A man stepped out of side-street holding what looked like something Peter thought he saw in an animal documentary. He looked angry that he’d missed but Peter didn’t care. Every instinct in him was telling him to run, not to fight, he had no idea what was in that dart so he needed to get out of there to somewhere safe. Peter tried running but his movements felt sluggish, like his legs weren’t paying attention to what his brain was telling it. The man advanced. Peter leapt at the wall but his hands weren’t gripping and he slid down. What’s going on, he thought. The man grabbed him and threw him to the ground roughly. Peter landed hard and gasped in shock. The man was on him again and Peter couldn’t hold him back. But I’m strong, Peter thought, why is he getting the better of me? That dart must be interfering with his powers. From his pocket the man brought out a pair of cuffs. They looked fairly heavy duty. Peter panicked and pushed with all his might. Finally a result! He scrambled as best he could on his woozy legs and took off away from the man. He dialled the first number on his phone, right now he didn’t much care who it was.

“Peter? What’s going on, you should be here by now?” Ned said.

“Ned, you gotta…” but he didn’t get further than that.

Arms were wrapped around his waist and a heavy weight was driving him to the ground. He couldn’t resist and fell, his phone knocked from his hand. He felt the wind go out of him slightly as he twisted and pushed, only to be met with a fist to the gut.

“Go ahead, keep struggling. All it’ll do is bring you more pain and up my paycheque” the man said in a gravelly voice.

The man punched him again, and again, and again. Chest, gut, face, once again in the chest which made him struggle to breathe. Peter tried to block him with his arms, try to kick back at him, but the man just knocked his feeble attempts away and hit him again, harder.

“They didn’t pay me for you to kick up a fuss, so you’re going to stay still and behave” the man said as he finally managed to put the cuffs on Peter.

They squeezed his wrists tightly. Between the adrenaline and his own extremely high metabolism, Peter felt the effects of the dart wearing off. His vision was clearing, but the man had already picked him up and threw him roughly into the trunk of a waiting car.

“Get us out of here” he heard the man say to the driver.

Peter couldn’t see. He tried guessing where they were from how they turned, but it was too difficult to keep track of when he was panicking. His strength was largely back to him, but the cuffs still would not budge. He cried out, hoping that somebody would hear him. He kicked at the roof of the trunk, but he couldn’t get a good angle to bust it open since the trunk itself was so small.

“Shit, what’s that?” he heard the man say.

A rescue, Peter thought. Ned must have realised something was wrong and called someone, but who? Obviously someone these thugs didn’t recognise. There was a strange rumbling sound and another chill ran down Peter’s spine. Then all of a sudden, the car around him slowed and vanished in a bright mist, and he was falling the short distance to the ground. He hit the ground and rolled, his instincts kicking in to stop him from going too far. The two people, the man and he guessed a woman from the ponytail, were a short distance in front of him, looking up. Above them, hanging in the air in a dull blue glow, was Billy. His raggedy cape was flowing in the wind. It wasn’t uncommon to see his eyes shining blue when he used his magic, but this was different, much more intense. They weren’t glowing, they were burning. Billy looked angry.

“Crap” he heard the woman say.

They both drew guns and fired at him. With one swift motion, Billy conjured a shield, like he’d seen Dr Strange do, though his was a dark blue instead of orange. The bullets bounced harmlessly off. The two thugs panicked and the man turned face Peter, bringing his gun to level at him. No! Peter darted forward, the last of the drugs burnt out with the surge of adrenaline and he grabbed the gun. He didn’t have time to stop the shot, instead directed it into his shoulder and not his chest. It didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would.

“NO!” Billy shouted.

He dropped, tendrils of blue energy wreathing around him which exploded outwards as he hit the ground. The blast knocked both thugs to their feet. Peter is on the man before he can move again, ripping the gun from his grip and tearing it to pieces. The man seemed slightly scared now as Peter loomed over him. He wanted to punch him, to hurt him, to see him in pain like Peter was. But as he looked down on the man, even with his fist raised ready, he couldn’t do it. His fist dropped lamely to his side. Then it all hit him. Waves of pain, from his chest, from his arms, from his shoulder. It hurt so much. It almost sent him sprawling to the ground but in an instant, Billy was there pulling Peter’s good arm over his shoulder to keep him standing.

“I’ve got you” he said.

The sounds of repulsors grabbed their attention before Peter could say anything, and Tony and Sam were landing next to them a moment later. The Iron Man suits all had the same face with the same frown, but Peter could almost see the look on Tony’s face behind the mask. Sam took one look at the situation and moved to secure the woman, the man was frozen in place, not taking his eyes off Iron Man.

“I’ve got him. Take care of these guys” Billy said to Tony.

“Hold on a moment kid” Tony said, but Billy didn’t give him that moment.

“ **Take us to the tower** ” he said.

They were surrounded by bright light and Peter felt the wave of warmth and unnerving lightness wash over him. He let himself succumb to the pain, just this once, and passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is the final chapter, though I may add an epilogue to it which may end up being a chapter itself. Who knows, we'll see. I should hopefully have that done sometime next week.
> 
> As always, I greatly appreciate any feedback people have for me.


	7. Power Over Decision

There was beeping and a dull throbbing whenever his chest rose. As Peter’s eyes fluttered open, he was vaguely aware of the smell of disinfectant. He pushed himself up only to feel a hand stopping him.

“Hold on there, Peter” they said.

Peter focussed, bringing his senses back into line and he was hit by the pain, though it wasn’t nearly as strong as it was before. He tried sitting up again. The person seemed to give up on making him lie down and instead helped prop him up. Peter only now saw it was Bruce. The doctor smiled at him warmly before he began taking measurements.

“What happened?” Peter asked.

“You gave us quite the scare” Bruce said, “we got the call from Billy that you were being attacked and the next thing we knew, the pair of you appeared in the lounge. We brought you here to the medical centre.”

He gestured to the room around him. Peter had been fortunate enough to never need to spend time here before. It was a spacious room, all pristine equipment and sparkling clean floors. The beds looked rarely used, though ever ready.

“It was mostly just bruises you came away with, though we were a little worried about your abdomen. We thought maybe something had ruptured, but it turned out fine. As for the bullet wound in your shoulder, it was a clean shot, through and through, so no issues there” Bruce listed.

“That must be why it hurts to breathe” Peter said, trying to sound light hearted but wincing all the same.

Bruce smiled warmly again.

“No, that’ll be your ribs.”

Peter shifted slightly, not taking his eyes of Bruce.

“How long was I out? Did they catch the guys that did this?” he asked.

“Yes, they caught them and you were only out for a few hours. You’ve made quite the recovery, courtesy of a healing factor and a particularly stubborn friend” Bruce said.

Peter was confused, but then he felt the pain lighten somewhat. He looked down at his torso and saw it. A thin misty light, barely bright enough to show up against the white sheets, was shifting up and down his body, pooling around his abdomen before moving to pool around his shoulder and back again. He followed the thin trails leading down the bed and saw Billy. He was sat cross legged on a chair near the foot of his bed, facing him, with his eyes shut. His hands were resting on his knees, palms up, themselves cloaked in the same light. He was muttering something barely audible, even for Peter’s sharp hearing.

“I don’t know what he’s doing, but it seems to be speeding up your already fast healing” Bruce explained.

Billy didn’t break his stream of muttering even though he was being talked about. Peter thought about him sitting there, in that position and saying those things for hours, not shifting, not budging. Bruce wasn’t kidding when he said he was stubborn and it brought every guilty feeling he’d had about Billy to the forefront of his mind. It made him want to sink beneath the covers and not come out, but another jolt of pain made him wince.

“Sorry. We wanted to give you something for the pain but Tony said you’d burn right through it” Bruce said apologetically.

“It’s fine” Peter said.

Bruce finished taking his measurements.

“I’m sure the pair of you have a lot to talk about” he said as he packed up and left the room.

Peter got the distinct impression he didn’t want to be around another argument, but Peter didn’t even know what he was going to say. This was something he’d been annoyed by even before his identity reveal. He either spoke at a mile a minute, saying every random thought that crossed his mind, or he could barely string sentences together to get his point across. Time crept by, and eventually, Billy stopped muttering. The misty light faded away, leaving Peter with only a fleeting feeling like there was an injury to his shoulder, something he knew would heal by itself fairly quickly. Billy stretched, flexing his head and arms after their hours in the same position. Peter didn’t know what to say, but he really wanted to say something.

“You should be better by tomorrow” Billy said as he made to leave his chair.

“Billy wait” Peter said.

Billy did so, settling into a more comfortable position. Peter played with his fingers, not wanting to meet Billy’s eyes.

“I’m sorry” he said.

“You don’t need to apologise” Billy said.

“Yes I do. I was like out of line and like a total brat, when you were just trying to help.”

“You weren’t that bad” Billy said.

“Yes I was, admit it.”

Billy chuckled slightly.

“Ok, maybe you were.”

“I can’t believe I acted like that” Peter said, “I mean, what good was it going to do? And if Uncle Ben saw me like that, he would have been so disappointed. And who knows what the Avengers, or Mr Stark, think of me now. They’ll treat me like a kid again and I’ll totally deserve it.”

There he was with his motor mouth, but he found some of the tension inside of him releasing slightly as he spoke. Billy shot him a smirk which stopped him in his tracks.

“What?” he asked.

“There he is” Billy said.

“Who?”

“Peter Parker.”

Oh. Peter had to admit that he was feeling more like himself, better than before the suit was taken.

“I guess I just needed a push” he said, looking up sheepishly.

Billy’s smile didn’t falter.

“Just a little bit.”

“More like a big bit, like out of the window kind of big.”

Billy laughed, and Peter joined him. This felt better than the shade he’d been giving him the past week, and oh did Peter feel guilty about that now. He’d have to make it up to him somehow.

“In all honesty, I should be apologising to you as well” Billy said, looking down at his hands, guilt etched on his face.

“What for?” Peter asked.

It was serious question because Peter couldn’t think of anything that Billy had done to warrant an apology, except for taking the suit but Peter was completely willing to forgive him for that given everything else.

“For that” Billy said, pointing to his shoulder.

“You didn’t shoot me” Peter said bluntly.

“No, but you may have been able to defend yourself better if you’d had your suit.”

“Stop that” Peter said, the force in his voice bringing Billy’s gaze back up to meet his.

“I know now, and you’ve known for a while, that if I had my suit I would have been out there patrolling and not going to Ned’s, which wasn’t what I needed. And besides, he hit me with some kind of drug which messed with my powers so web shooters wouldn’t have really helped anyway.”

“I guess we both could have handled ourselves better” Billy said.

“Maybe, but I was way worse” Peter said.

“No arguments there” Billy said with a sly grin.

“I thought you were being nice to me.”

“I am. Is the truth not nice?” Billy joked.

They both laughed again.

“I am sorry though” Peter said, “for everything.”

“You’re forgiven” was all Billy said.

He stood up and held his hand out for Peter. Peter took it. It wasn’t like with Ned, they didn’t have a secret handshake, it was more just a clasp, but it was enough.

“You need to rest, or May will be in here and have my head” Billy said.

He walked away from Peter’s side and left the room. Peter shuffled so he was lying flat again, feeling sleep claw at his mind. Tomorrow was a new day, one that Peter was hoping to meet well. It was already looking good. He had his friend back.

 

_Our top story this morning: an enhanced individual was attacked on the streets of Midtown New York earlier this week. A spokesperson for the police department has confirmed the details of the story and asks that the media be responsible in their coverage. As such, NYSN will be withholding identifying information so as not to provoke any further attacks. The assault has caused massive public outrage, with many expressing the opinion that government officials have fanned dangerous sentiments about these individuals to the point that people feel threatened by them even when they have done nothing wrong. It is widely known that the Avengers, many of whom are enhanced in some way, have heavily criticised a bill proposed by Secretary of State Ross which would have imposed registration and monitoring measures on these individuals due to security threats they allegedly present. As reported by Clarice McKenna, political correspondent for the Daily Bugle, quote: ‘what support this bill had in congress has practically evaporated overnight’. We interviewed a local high school teacher about the changes this bill would introduce. Viewers please note that this individual has asked to remain anonymous. Here is what they had to say._

_‘We’ve already seen it in my own school. The individual that was attacked has been expelled in every sense except officially. They were asked not to come back to school supposedly for the safety of the students. This is a clear violation of our duty of care, which extends to the individual in question as well. If Secretary Ross pushes this bill through, then he will be responsible for the unjust vilification of many innocent Americans.’_

_More on this topic later._

“Wait! You got attacked, and they decided to expel you?” Billy said, confused.

Peter didn’t blame him. He remembered the meeting with Morita well. That was to be his final hurdle, going back to school with his head held high. When Morita had called him and May in for a meeting, he thought he was going to apologise, or discuss the measures he was taking to prevent harassment, but no. Instead he’d told him that, in light of recent events, Peter’s presence at the school was a safety concern. He said the teachers felt he may pose a danger to the other students, either through his own conduct, intentional or otherwise, or by others treatment of him. Oh how that had made his blood boil. No amount of support from the school in setting up online schooling, or help from the teachers in smoothing the transition, was enough to ease the betrayal he felt. There was no end to the rage that May expressed that day. What Morita had claimed would only be a very short meeting had turned into a shouting match between May and Morita, or rather Morita attempting to vaguely defend himself against a very angry May. She’d shouted so much that there was a small crowd listening around Morita’s office wondering what on Earth was going on. They had all parted like the red sea when May finally stormed from the office, pushing an equally angry but not anywhere near as expressive Peter along with her. Everyone had stayed out of her way that day, except for Tony, who listened for a minute to her rambling before pulling up security feeds from the school. Ensconced in his lab for the next day and a half, they had no idea what he was doing. By this point, May had calmed down somewhat, at least enough that she wasn’t jumping down the throats of anyone who tried talking to her. When Tony finally returned, he handed Peter log-in details and told them both to come with him.

“What’s going on Mr Stark? What are these for?”

“I’ve signed you up for the best online schooling service in the country” Tony had said so calmly.

“What? Why?” Peter had said.

“Mr Stark, we can’t…” May had tried protesting, but Tony waved her down and refused to budge on this.

Peter only realised as they passed Mr Delmars that they were back in Queens, heading back to their apartment. Even though he’d been back to Queens a number of times, he’d never been near his apartment. He checked the security footage from time to time and there were still one or two reporters buzzing around it.

“I called every newsroom, every paper, every magazine, every goddamn blogger with a smartphone and told them that if I found reporters in a five block radius around your building without good reason, then I would sue them so hard for invading privacy and harassment.”

“Can you even do that?” Peter had asked.

“No idea, but it worked because look” Tony gestured out of the window, “not a reporter in sight.”

So Peter and May found themselves back in their apartment, and though neither of them said it, they were incredibly glad to be back. They couldn’t thank the Avengers, and Tony in particular, for their hospitality enough, but they preferred being back in their own space.

“So that stuff on your computer, that’s online school?” Billy asked.

Peter nodded.

“I thought you were just doing homework! So when you said you wanted someone to study with, you meant like actually studying” Billy said.

“Yeah. That was one of the good things about school. Even if the work was boring, at least you weren’t doing it on your own.”

“But won’t you miss it? Surely you’re going to fight this?” Billy asked.

“Oh yeah, I miss it. Mr Stark said he’ll look into getting Morita fired or the decision overturned or something like that, but I don’t really know if I want to go back” Peter said, “at least not right away.”

They were sat in Peter’s living room, Billy with his books on the low table and Peter with his computer on his lap on the couch. The news was playing idly in the background, a low level noise that surprisingly kept them focussed on their work.

“Did it take long for you to get used to it? Home-schooling, I mean?” Peter asked.

He’d been curious about it for a while, especially given the strange life Billy led that seemed wholly unfit for traditional schooling.

“Not really, but then again, I’m not the person to ask” Billy said, “my schooling had been so fragmented leading up to it, I was just glad for any kind of stability.”

Fair enough, Peter thought. They let the silence hang over them for a moment when there was a knock at the door. Peter answered it and found the beaming face of Ned.

“Ned!”

Peter pulled his friend into a hug. He hadn’t seen him properly for a while. Ned hugged him back and let himself into the apartment, calling a greeting to Billy.

“So you guys are like home-schooling together now?” Ned asked.

“As if the good doctor would let me do that every day” Billy said.

“But you’re here now?” Peter said, confused.

Billy put a finger to his lips with a smirk. Peter resumed his place on the couch and Ned sat next to him. He rattled off about his day and everything that Peter missed at school since he left.

“And you’ll never believe it but there was a protest yesterday” Ned said.

“Seriously?” Peter asked.

“Yeah seriously. You know how MJ’s, like, really awkward and quiet most of the time? Not when she’s protesting she isn't. She just stands up, bold as anything, right in the middle of a lesson and staged this huge walkout. It was nuts. She just kept going around and around the school with a bullhorn until this huge crowd was behind her and then led them out onto the football field.”

“Bet the footballers weren’t too happy about that” Billy commented.

“No they weren’t, but then some of them actually joined in. And the craziest part was that it wasn’t just students, there were teachers who joined in as well” Ned said, clearly excited to tell the story.

“But why would she do that?” Peter asked, “I mean, I’m grateful and everything, but why?”

Ned’s face fell slightly.

“Well, um, you see, it turns out that the governors hadn’t been told about anything after the whole thing with the bus. Nothing about you trying to come back to school, nothing about the bullying you got, and definitely nothing about Morita telling you not to come back. MJ invited some of them to see the protest and let’s just say, they were not happy.”

“About Morita or about the protest?” Billy asked.

“Probably both, but mostly about Morita” Ned said.

“But wait, how did MJ find out about this if even the governors had no idea?” Peter asked.

Ned shrugged.

“I don’t know. It’s MJ, who knows how she finds anything out?”

Silence fell over the three of them as Peter processed the information. So Morita had been acting on his own, that wasn’t the official position of the school. That was good, especially if the governors were going to change things. Not for him, right now that didn’t matter. He was in a good place at the moment, he was thinking more for the people that came after. And there will be more, Peter had no doubt about that. There was all kinds of crazy ways for someone to get powers these days, whether it be through experiments gone wrong or weird magic, or something else entirely that no-one could have predicted.

_We go live now to Washington D.C., where President Ellis is making his address._

All three of them turned their attention to the TV. Someone had the remote and turned the volume up so they could hear President Ellis speak clearly.

_My fellow Americans. These past few weeks has seen our nation gripped with debates about enhanced individuals, and we all know how these debates started, with one heroic act one Friday morning. On behalf of this administration, I would like to extend my formal apologies to the individual in question for any anguish this episode has caused. I am told that he has been adversely affected by media coverage and institutional policy and while I’m sure that was not the intention of either, it has certainly had that effect. To the people at large, I ask for your patience and your caution. It is a very human thing to jump to conclusions, to act without thinking through our actions, but this is what I ask of you. The Avengers show us that enhanced individuals can do great things in the service of humanity. However, the Avengers also show us that enhanced individuals can do equally great harms as well. There are no easy answers to the questions that have been posed in these past weeks. What I ask of America is to remember, that no matter what they can or cannot do that is different than you, they are people too, deserving of the liberties and freedoms that we enjoy in this nation. There are still tough questions to be asked, and tough answers to be given, through many lengthy debates and conversations. I am confident that the American people will rise to this challenge with the dignity that makes this country united. Thank you._

 

Peter’s phone had buzzed for a solid minute after President Ellis’s address. Tony, Steve, Pepper, May, everyone wanted to know if he’d seen it. Ned was silently freaking out that Peter had their numbers, as well as the President mentioning him in a speech. Peter was just glad he hadn’t used his name, either of them. He couldn’t help but glance out of the window, but saw no reporters. Tony’s threat must have worked, a presidential address was too juicy an opportunity to miss getting his comment. May had come home from work and insisted on making everyone dinner to celebrate. Celebrating what, she never said, it seemed more that they hadn’t done something hugely positive in a while. Billy barely got out of it.

“No really May, I can practically feel him glaring at me for being late. Maybe next time” he’d said.

May cooked them a simple dinner, but her joyous attitude was infectious. It was a glad change from the dower atmosphere of previous evenings. Peter’s fault, he knew that, but all the same it was good to be looking up again. After copious servings of ice-cream as dessert, Ned finally said he had to go home. May took him, leaving Peter alone in the apartment. Everything seemed calm and frankly normal. It brought back so many memories. Building lego sets with his uncle. May attempting a chicken casserole and nearly burning the apartment down. Meeting Tony Stark. May finding out he was Spiderman. Good memories and bad, but somehow all nostalgic, like he’d passed through a kind of divide, separating the then from the now. But there was a divide. That Friday with the bus had been the divide. He was a different person now, of course he was, but the more he thought about it, the more Peter realised that that was a good thing. It was trying to cling to what he had been before that had caused all the problems. He was still Peter Parker, and he was still Spiderman, and when he was ready, he would ask Billy for the suit back. No shouting, no demanding, just asking, because that is what Peter Parker would do. He pushed open his bedroom door and took in the familiar sight, breathed in the familiar smell. This was home. His breath caught, however, on another familiar sight. There was a brown paper bag sat on his bed, which he was sure hadn’t been there before. No, he’d not seen it when he woke up, and nobody had been in his room except him. There was a note attached. It was a strange feeling like déjà vu. The bag on his bed, the note attached, and he was fairly certain, a suit contained within. He pulled the note off.

“Are you Peter Parker? I think you are” it read.

Peter smiled. Billy. Both times he’d taken the suit there had been a lesson, and both times when the lesson had been learned the suit was returned. Sure enough, he emptied the bag out, seeing the red and blue suit and web shooters tumble onto the bed. He picked up the mask. He’d have given anything to have this back after it had been taken. He’d be jamming the mask on his face and be out of the window in a heartbeat. Now, he wasn’t so sure.

“He gave it back” May said, making Peter jump.

He hadn’t heard her get back. She was stood in the doorway to his room, looking fondly at him as he fumbled the mask in his hands.

“He did” Peter said.

“He said he would, when you were ready” May said.

Peter nodded. Was he ready? He really didn’t know. If he put the suit back on, he might start the spiral all over again, ignoring his friends, his family. It might even be worse. He might go out one day and never come back, by his own choice not because of anything that happened to him. He didn’t want May to have to go through that, not after everything else.

“When I first saw you with that, I was so angry and scared” she said, entering the room and pulling the mask from his hands, “I was terrified that you’d go out one day and not come back, that you’d be hurt somewhere and I wouldn’t be able to help you. I guess I still feel that way a little bit. But then I gave it some thought and realised something.”

“What?”

“How proud I was of you. You went through a freaky change, something which I’m still struggling to get my head around, and you didn’t let it break you. You promised yourself you would help people, to be like your heroes. Sure, you may have stumbled along the way, but then who doesn’t. My nephew saves the world, and I could not be prouder.”

There were tears in her eyes as she radiated warmth and care, pulling Peter into a hug, which he readily accepted and returned. May had always been there. Losing his parents. Losing Ben. People finding out about him being Spiderman. Through it all, there she was, always ready with a kind word and a warm hug, and on occasion a fiery temper. How she managed it, Peter had no clue. He only hoped that he could be as strong as her. The mask dropped to the floor. When they eventually parted, May lingered at the door for a brief moment, before leaving to go about her business. As though on autopilot, Peter put on the suit, feeling the smooth material over his skin. With a resolute push, he pressed the centre button and the suit tightened around his body, itself an embrace that Peter had missed. He still hadn’t put the mask on yet, its white eye lenses staring up at him from the floor. Was he ready? What if he got out there and it was too much? As he pondered this, something about it made him smile. He felt a sense of agency about it. He had the suit. It was his. He didn’t have to go out tonight, that was his choice. When he did go out, if it was too much, then he could always come home, that was also his choice. The power of decision was his, and that felt good. He pulled the mask over his face and the interface kicked into life.

“Hello Peter” Karen said.

“Hey Karen” he replied.

“What are we going to do tonight?” she asked.

He opened the window, took a deep breath and leapt out into the night. Ready or not, whatever issues he still had, there was only one way to find out. And if it was too much, that was ok. He was ok. He might not be the same person as he was before, but for the first time since that fateful Friday morning, Peter felt good. He felt normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically the end of the story. The final chapter will be something of an epilogue type thing. I have it written, so it'll be out soon, maybe even later today.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read this story. I couldn't have asked for a better response from people. I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> As always, I would love to hear any feedback you may have. Please feel free to let me know.


	8. Epilogue

Time passed by in a strange fashion. Since he didn’t have the regular lessons of school anymore, Peter didn’t really notice the seasons changing, didn’t notice how the days turned to weeks to months. Ross’s bill had been completely rejected, though there was still much debate on the issue, but that was to be expected. Despite his initial worries, Peter’s life hadn’t changed much. As it turned out, whatever the Daily Bugle might want to say, the people of Queens were very proud of their local hero. The two times he’d been accosted on the street, a kindly stranger had intervened, or even many strangers, to drive the reporter off or to offer him refuge and a chance to slip away. That sense of community buoyed him up against any anxious feelings he might have after such encounters to the point that he could look back and be amused at how afraid he’d been of going outside. The streets held no danger for him. The people protected him, and he protected the people.

“It’s like you’re a celebrity that everyone has silently agreed not to bother” Ned said as they walked down the street to the park.

Ned had a tight hold on his little sister’s hand, who was excitedly trying to get away from her brother to go and play.

“I don’t know why you said you’d come with me” Ned said, bemused.

“I get bored of the same four walls” Peter said truthfully.

He liked his apartment well enough, but there was only so much time he could spend there.

“But you said you could go and study at the tower” Ned said.

This was true, Peter thought, if he wanted the endless distraction of the other tower residents, who were doing much more interesting things all the time. He still went there sometimes, and the Avengers were respectful enough not to disturb him too much, mostly. Those times when Clint was adamant about some obscure pop culture fact and the others needed someone to correct him, or when Sam was trying a new recipe and needed a tester, or when Tony needed company in his lab for this or that, those times he couldn’t help himself. Billy had managed to convince Dr Strange to let him study at the Sanctum a few times. It didn’t happen often because how could you not be distracted by a building full of magical objects that never seemed to have a consistent layout. Ned’s sister gave him a forceful tug.

“Ok, ok, we’re almost there” he said, hoping to placate her.

“Excuse me?” a nervous voice said behind him.

Peter turned and saw a little boy, probably no older than seven or eight, looking up at him. The boy seemed to be bursting to ask something, but nerves were holding him back. A few feet away, a woman, his mother most likely, was shaking her head exasperatedly.

“Are you Spiderman?” he asked.

“Yes, I am” Peter said.

The boy beamed and turned back to his mom.

“Mom, it is him!” he said quite loudly.

“Ok honey. We don’t want to make a big thing” she said, shooting Peter an apologetic look.

“Could I have a picture? Please Mr Spiderman?” the boy said.

In his nervous excitement, his unzipped jacket came apart and Peter saw what looked like a Spiderman t-shirt underneath. He chuckled. Whatever unspoken agreement among Queens residents there was meant that he hadn’t been approached like this many times, so the few times that it had happened it always amused. He stubbornly refused to look at Ned, because if he did he’d burst out laughing, and that wouldn’t look good to the boy.  
“Now now, we don’t want to disturb the man, do we” the mother said.

“It’s alright” Peter said smiling.

The boy beamed again and stammered out a stream of thanks. The mother pulled out her phone. Peter crouched beside the boy and put an arm around his shoulder, like he’d seen Tony do when he took photos with people. The mother gave them both a thumbs-up when she’d taken the photo and he stood again. He half expected the boy to rush over to see how the picture looked, but he didn’t. He barely reacted at all, standing there beside Peter. There was a beat and the boy looked up at him. Gone was the beaming smile, replaced instead with confusion and fright. The mother hurried up and grabbed the boys arm.

“So sorry about that” she said, no longer apologetic at her son’s behaviour, she seemed more annoyed.

“What did I tell you about wandering off?” she said as she led the boy away.

Peter was so confused. Ned shook his head and continued walking.

“What just happened?” Peter said when he caught up.

“I don’t know. I guess the kid must wander off a lot” Ned said, entirely unhelpfully.

“No, I mean he wanted a picture with me but then acted like nothing happened” Peter said.

Had he done something? No, he hadn’t. It was like both son and mother forgot why he had come up to Peter in the first place.

“Why would he want a picture with you?” Ned asked, looking just as confused as Peter, but he suspected for a different reason.

“Because I’m …” he said, trailing off.

Ned didn’t remember either. There was a chill down his spine. Danger. He frantically looked around for the source, but there was nothing. People continued walking down the streets like all was right with the world. But it wasn’t alright, he could feel it. Wait, this wasn’t the way to the park, why was Ned leading them the wrong way? He stopped, and Ned stopped too, now starting to look a bit worried.

“What’s going on with you?” Ned asked, “you’re acting weird.”

Peter realised what was wrong, or at least part of it.

“Ned, where’s your sister?”

“Sister?”

“Yes, your sister. Where is she?”

“Ok, it was weird, but now it’s slightly scary. Please tell me you’re joking” Ned said.

“She was right with us. Where is she?” Peter demanded.

“Peter, I don’t have a sister” Ned said.

What? But they were taking her to the park, how could Ned forget that? But Ned also didn’t remember the photo, like it had never happened at all. Now he didn’t think he had a sister, like she’d never existed. The chills were running down his spine in a constant stream. What was going on?

Then he blinked.

And Ned was gone.

Peter jumped back in shock. Ned, who had been standing right there in front of him, had vanished.

“Ned!” he called out.

People around him gave him funny looks. But wait, the people were different too. They were the same people, mostly, the same store clerk, the same harried grandparent chasing after children, the same couple holding hands, but they were different as well, walking when they’d been stood still, getting into a car when they had been riding a bike, all in different places. Panic built up inside him, threatening to overwhelm. Whatever this was, it was big. He needed help. Taking out his phone, he scrolled through his contacts looking for Tony. But he wasn’t there. What? How could that be? He looked harder, but nothing. He felt his breathing quicken as he looked for someone else. No Happy. No Steve. No Wanda. What was going on? Finally, he found a name. Billy Kaplan. He’d know what was going on, and he knew Dr Strange, so even better, but before he could make the call, another chill, stronger than the others, ran down his spine. On the horizon, racing towards him, was a wall of blazing light. There was no time to turn and run, no time to even scream for help. The light swept over him, leaving nothing at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll repeat what I said on the last chapter and thank everyone for the positive responses and kind words. This is only the second work that I've written to completion, and at times it was a challenge to keep motivated as another idea kept intruding on my interest (as I'm sure many can relate to). Nevertheless, I persisted and finished am overall happy with how it turned out.
> 
> I go back up to university soon which will eat up a lot of my time, but I hope to keep writing little by little.
> 
> As always, please feel free to leave any feedback you might have, and once more, thank you very much.
> 
> My shameless cliffhanger now has born fruit. The next story in this series which ties in to this chapter is being released. I hope you enjoy it.


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